The show was supposed to premiere Sunday. Contracts were signed. Filming was done. Sponsors were locked in.
Taylor Frankie Paul had just walked the Oscars red carpet four days ago, done the press rounds, sat on Good Morning America as recently as Wednesday morning. And then TMZ dropped a video, and by Thursday afternoon, Disney had scrapped the entire season.
Season 22 of The Bachelorette is gone. Three days out.
What the Video Shows
The footage is from 2023, the same incident that got Paul arrested, the one that aired in the very first episode of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the one that was already fully public knowledge when ABC cast her as its next Bachelorette lead. None of that is new. What’s new is seeing it.
The video, published by TMZ Thursday morning, shows Paul kicking and slapping her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, who appears to be filming, while throwing metal chairs at him. One of them, Mortensen says on camera, hits her daughter.
The footage ends with him opening the door to a police officer. Paul’s rep told TMZ the video was “selectively edited” and released to “distract from his own behavior.” Paul told NBC News: “I will have my truth.”
A source connected to the show told NBC News that nobody at ABC had actually seen the video before TMZ published it Thursday morning. Which raises an obvious question about what exactly Disney’s vetting process looked like when they handed her the lead role.
How Fast It All Fell Apart
Disney’s statement came out hours after the video went live: “In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family.”
Before Disney even confirmed the cancellation, Cinnabon had already pulled out, terminating its collaboration with both The Bachelorette and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, saying the situation “no longer aligns with our brand values.” When the snack company moves faster than the network, you know things are moving fast.
Production on Mormon Wives Season 5 has also been paused. The cast made the call themselves, Mikayla Matthews confirmed it publicly: “It was a decision that all us girls came up with and agreed on. We didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that has happened.” One source told People the cast mood was blunter than that: “None of the women want to be associated with her.”
The Bigger Problem Here
Here’s the thing that’s hard to get past. Taylor Frankie Paul’s 2023 arrest wasn’t a secret. It aired on television. It was covered extensively.
The charges, the plea deal, all of it was public record when ABC made its casting decision in September 2025. The network wasn’t blindsided by the existence of a domestic violence incident. It just apparently hadn’t seen the footage.
That’s a meaningful distinction, and not necessarily a flattering one for Disney. The arrest was known. The guilty plea was known. The fact that her daughter was in the room was known.
An open police investigation in Draper City, Utah was ongoing, allegations going both directions between Paul and Mortensen, before a single episode aired. The video didn’t create the problem. It just made it impossible to look away from.
Reality Steve, the Bachelor Nation insider who’s been tracking this franchise for years, didn’t mince words on TMZ Live Thursday: “She needs to not be in front of cameras for a while. She needs help. I don’t think she needs more cameras in her face.” Well, Steve. Turns out that point is now moot.
What happens to the already-filmed season is unclear. ABC hasn’t said whether it will air later or whether the footage gets shelved permanently. For the 25 men who flew across the country to compete for her heart, they presumably don’t know yet either.
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