Mikayla Matthews has escalated her “frustrating” feud with “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” co-star Taylor Frankie Paul.
“Could probably write a book on everything I’ve had to say on this. Nothing I said denied that she’s experienced pain, trauma, or difficult things, there’s literally no question about that,” the reality TV star wrote in the comments section of a fan post discussing the drama via Instagram Reels over the weekend.
“Two things can be true. Someone can be hurting and still hurt people around them in the process. My statement was never about wanting [Taylor] to fail, suffer, or be canceled,” she continued. “It was about no longer wanting to publicly participate in or normalize a cycle that was affecting everyone around it, especially where children and repeated violence were involved.”
Matthews also doubled down on her initial statement about Paul’s several domestic violence incidents, posted on Saturday, in which she said she couldn’t support her co-star’s self-destructive patterns.
“[Taylor’s] knowingly staying in a harmful cycle despite the consequences to [herself] and the people around [her],” she claimed.
“You cannot repeatedly make things public and then act shocked when people eventually respond publicly too, even if you don’t like the response.”
In an Instagram Story posted in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Matthews admitted she “definitely got out of hand commenting,” but continued to defend herself.
“I can’t stress enough that this is not about ‘sides’ or ‘teams.’ I genuinely want to see everyone healed and happy, including myself,” Matthews explained.
“At the same time, I’m not going to quietly accept loud disrespect, manipulation or fear tactics used to intimidate any woman who set boundaries or chooses not to support destructive behavior. And I definitely won’t tolerate people downplaying the trauma I’ve endured and continue to work through to this day.”
Matthews added that social media can be “so dangerous” and noted that she’ll be “blocking anyone who is not serving [her] end goal.”
Matthews’ lengthy comments come after Paul clapped back at her initial statement with a savage Mother’s Day post over the weekend, claiming her co-star was “kicking [her]” while she’s already down.
“I STILL have ‘friends’ kicking me while I’m already down and calling it ‘setting a boundary’ and then BLAMES ME for being upset and responding. That’s called shaming and attack while I had a moment to breathe and she knew that,” Paul wrote in the emotional post.
“What a snake friend just did to me in the public eye after everything she just witnessed…the lack of empathy and silence was loud enough.”
Paul admitted she was “spiraling” over the situation and even called Matthews an enemy.
“People calling me out yet I can’t respond? Exactly what I will NOT be tolerating ever again,” she wrote. “Thank you GOD for the people you sent to help me through this with my enemies so close.”
The women shared a close friendship on “SLOMW,” but seemingly became estranged once Paul’s domestic violence investigation halted production of Season 5.
In March, Paul temporarily lost custody of her 2-year-old son, Ever, amid mutual allegations of abuse between her and the toddler’s father, Dakota Mortensen.
The exes battled it out in court and a Utah judge ultimately ordered mutual protective orders.
While the “SLOMW” cast initially stopped production amid the investigation, the ladies reportedly had a change of heart regarding Paul and plan to continue to film with her as production picked up for Season 5.
Multiple sources told TMZ that the cast expects production to resume “in a matter of weeks,” meaning that the frenemies may reunite for the sake of the show. Meanwhile, ABC pulled the plug on Paul’s highly anticipated season of “The Bachelorette” and there are no further plans for it to air at this time.
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