Taylor Frankie Paul, the newly announced Bachelorette, told host Alex Cooper on the podcast Call Her Daddy that her Mormon upbringing has complicated her plans for the show’s fantasy-suite portion, in which she will have the opportunity to spend the night with three contestants before narrowing the field to her final two.
Paul said developing a physical connection with a potential partner is important but described feeling torn about intimacy on television because of values instilled during her time in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "It's funny because my mom's back right here watching. I've told her that, and I'm like, 'Mom, you have to test the car before,'" she said, adding that she did not expect to be intimate with more than one person on the show.
"For me, I would feel disrespectful doing it to two people," Paul said, explaining that multiple intimate encounters would conflict with her sense of respect and commitment. She referenced former Bachelor contestant Joey Graziadei, whose private fantasy-suite experiences were never publicly detailed, and said she understood both the curiosity around such choices and the desire to keep them private out of respect for future partners.
Paul described sex as a taboo topic while growing up in the Mormon Church and said those early messages left her with guilt and secrecy. "I felt shame, guilt. So it's gonna be a secret," she said, and added she now leans toward keeping her sex life private for her own peace. "I've broadcast it to the world and in so many different ways. But I think moving forward for me and my peace, I think that's something I do want to be personal with my next person and maybe not talk so much on it."
Paul rose to prominence on TikTok after organizing a group of creators known as "MomTok." Her social media presence and public discussions about relationships drew wider attention after she announced the end of her marriage, saying she had been in a "soft-swinging" arrangement with other couples in the Utah Mormon community. That storyline, and the broader lives of women from that social circle, led to an unscripted Hulu series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, in which Paul appears; the show’s third season is set to premiere this fall.
When asked how she would approach the fantasy suites, Paul said she had thought through the decision but declined to reveal specifics. She acknowledged both the emotional stakes of televised intimacy and the tension between private values and the format of a reality dating show. The choice comes as ABC’s long-running franchise continues to test how contestants balance personal beliefs with the program’s conventions.
Producers of The Bachelorette have historically allowed contestants to decide whether to use the fantasy suites, and contestants’ choices or disclosures about private encounters have often prompted public debate about privacy, consent and the way relationships are presented on reality television. Paul’s comments add another high-profile example of how participants navigate those questions.
Paul’s podcast appearance follows her formal announcement as the latest star of the franchise and comes ahead of production and broadcast of her season. She said she respects that some former leads and contestants have chosen not to discuss what happened behind closed doors and indicated she planned to keep parts of her decision private while she determines how to proceed on the show.
