NEED TO KNOW
- Taylor Frankie Paul is going to be ABC’s new Bachelorette, and her ex Dakota Mortensen isn’t hiding his feelings on the matter
- After the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star announced the news on Call Her Daddy, Mortensen shared a reflective post on his Instagram Stories
- He also left a comment on a TikTok clip from the podcast episode in which Paul addressed the last time they hooked up
Dakota Mortensen is reacting to news that his ex is ABC’s newest Bachelorette.
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, Taylor Frankie Paul revealed that she will be the lead for season 22 of The Bachelorette on Call Her Daddy. As news about the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, 31, and her new adventure in love spread, many wondered how her ex was feeling about it.
Mortensen reacted to the news on his Instagram Stories, where he shared a selfie captioned with reflective words on Sept. 10. “Had so many curve balls today and everytime [sic] I am always reminded there is nothing more important than God and family,” he wrote in overlaying text. “Life is to [sic] short.”
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He also left a pointed comment on a TikTok clip from Paul’s appearance on Call Her Daddy, during which she confirmed that her relationship with Mortensen is indeed “over.” When host Alex Cooper asked when Paul last “hooked up” with her ex, she playfully became nervous before admitting they might’ve gotten together at Stagecoach.
“Maybe one after,” she told Cooper, adding, “It’s been very confusing.”
Mortensen took to the comments section to react to her claim, writing, “1 or 2 times….Got it lol.”
On the Wednesday episode of Call Her Daddy, Paul said that she hadn’t given her ex a heads-up before her big casting announcement.
“I have not confirmed it with him. So I don’t know if he knows or if he knew I had the opportunity,” she shared with Cooper. “So he’ll know Wednesday.”
Asked what Mortensen’s reaction might be, Paul said she thinks her ex will be “probably sad.”
“If anything he says is real, I would say sad,” Paul added. “He does know that I was dating and, you know, meeting people, so that we’ve already had that first hurt, I guess. I think that’s the hardest part is when you see their first dating or hookup or whatever it is. That’s gonna always take a toll no matter what.”
After the “soft-swinging” scandal broke in June 2022, Paul announced that she would be divorcing her then-husband, Tate Paul. Soon after, she shared that she and Mortensen were dating, which is how he became well-known to the public.
Paul and Mortensen’s relationship has been famously on and off since September 2022. In March 2024, the pair became parents to a son, Ever True. The mom of three also shares kids Indy, 8, and Ocean, 5, with her ex-husband.
The MomToker got candid about her struggle to end the relationship, saying, “It was really hard to let go. That was a hard pill to swallow that I can’t be with you now. And, like, there was no pain like it. I will say, this last summer was one of the hardest summers I ever had because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Taylor, you have to accept that you’re not ending up with him.’ And to walk away from someone you initially wanted is a pain that I can’t describe to anybody unless someone’s done it.”
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