When Disney-owned ABC announced that it was shelving an upcoming season of “The Bachelorette” amid domestic violence allegations against the show’s star, the company’s statement was carefully worded. The episodes, it said last month, would not be aired “at this time.”
In the following weeks, the network’s executives have watched closely as the legal fallout surrounding the show’s lead, Taylor Frankie Paul, has unfolded. Any footage or new revelations about her behavior that are shared in court could shape their views of whether reviving the season is a viable option.
Prosecutors announced this month that Ms. Paul, who rose to fame in the reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” would not face criminal charges for a series of abuse allegations made by the father of one of her children.
But Ms. Paul remains locked in a custody battle with that former partner. On Thursday, details of their chaotic on-and-off relationship are expected to be aired at a hearing in a Utah court as the future of her “Bachelorette” season hangs in the balance.
The custody case involves dueling petitions for protective orders between Ms. Paul and Dakota Mortensen, whose tumultuous relationship has played out over four seasons of “Mormon Wives.”
The former couple, who share a 2-year-old son, have accused each other of being the primary aggressor in altercations, submitting to the police photos of bruising or scratches that they said were results of abuse. Both are expected to attend Thursday’s hearing, where the court will consider how custody should be divided between the warring parents.
During the court battle, Mr. Mortensen has been granted temporary custody of their child, while Ms. Paul has been allowed supervised visitation rights.
Ms. Paul pleaded guilty in 2023 to assaulting Mr. Mortensen, and her criminal history was well known to ABC when it agreed to cast her on “The Bachelorette.” But when video of that attack was leaked last month to TMZ, the footage of a heavily intoxicated Ms. Paul throwing metal chairs — one of which was reported to have accidentally hit her 5-year-old daughter — led Disney to pull her upcoming season.
In court papers, Mr. Mortensen has said that abusive behavior continued even as Ms. Paul was on probation. He accused her of a “pattern of behavior where she becomes physically aggressive, prevents me from leaving and escalates situations to a dangerous level.”
Ms. Paul has said in her own petition that Mr. Mortensen became increasingly possessive and ultimately violent as the premiere of “The Bachelorette” neared. Her court filing accuses him of threatening to report her to the authorities at the same time that he was pressuring her to resume their romantic relationship.
Though they disagree on who bears the most responsibility, each side has described the relationship as plagued by a “cycle of abuse.”
“It’s certainly been — no one disputes — a volatile relationship,” Commissioner Russell Minas, who has been involved in oversight of the two cases, said at a hearing this month in state court in Salt Lake City.
If further unsavory details about Ms. Paul and her relationship are released at Thursday’s hearing, it could affect how Disney executives view the future of her season of “The Bachelorette.” Her lawyers sought to prevent the court hearing from being streamed online by news media, but the court declined to grant the request.
Mr. Mortensen has submitted to the court videos that he took of Ms. Paul during arguments, which have been discussed at hearings but not publicly released. Michael McDonald, a guardian ad litem who was appointed to represent the interests of their son, expressed concern about a particular video from May 2025 in which, he said, Ms. Paul pushes Mr. Mortensen as he is holding the child.
“That makes me very nervous about her ability to control herself and her volatility,” Mr. McDonald said at a hearing this month.
Ms. Paul has accused Mr. Mortensen of seeking to provoke her and filming her responses.
“There have been numerous instances in our past arguments that I have demanded that he leave my home only to have him refuse, attempt to antagonize me and pull out his phone to record my reaction,” she wrote in her petition for a protective order.
The current court battle arose from an altercation in February, around the time that Ms. Paul was filming the fifth season of “Mormon Wives.”
Mr. Mortensen reported to the police that Ms. Paul had become angry at him, grabbed his throat and then followed him into his truck, where she hit him and squeezed his face.
Ms. Paul said in her own statement to the police that they had been talking about their relationship in Mr. Mortensen’s truck when he grabbed her head and slammed it against the dashboard. Mr. Mortensen had told the police that he had shoved her away amid her attack.
After prosecutors announced that they would not be filing criminal charges related to the altercation, the pressure surrounding Ms. Paul and her reality TV shows began to abate.
Ms. Paul, who had been relatively quiet on social media amid the turmoil, posted to Instagram expressing her relief and sharing her efforts toward “healing” after what she called a “public atrocity.” In a sign that Ms. Paul’s prime-time future may be getting brighter, Bachelor Nation, the official website run by producers of the franchise, posted a sympathetic article about her Instagram post.
And “Mormon Wives,” which had paused filming of its fifth season amid the police investigation, announced it intends to resume production. Ms. Paul has no current plans to film the remainder of this season, but she would like to return to the show eventually, said a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to speak about them publicly.
In an interview with The Wrap that was published last week, Rob Mills, Disney’s executive vice president of unscripted and alternative entertainment, said the company’s priority was “making sure that Taylor, her family, everyone is being taken care of.”
He did not take a position on whether her season would ever see the light of day.
“We take everything a day at a time,” he said.
John Koblin contributed reporting.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
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