Taylor Frankie Paul, a reality star who gained prominence on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has been announced as the lead for Season 22 of ABC’s The Bachelorette.
The casting marks a departure for the long-running franchise: previous Bachelorettes have almost always been chosen from contestants on The Bachelor. Paul, 31, disclosed the news on audio outlet Call Her Daddy and described the moment she learned she had been asked to lead the series as “surreal.” She told host Alex Cooper that she did not fully believe the offer until she received the formal invitation.
Paul rose to public attention as a member of the #MomTok influencer group whose private lives became the focus of public scrutiny after she disclosed in 2022 that she had been part of a soft-swinging circle within her Mormon community. The revelations played out publicly on social media and led to her divorce from her first husband, Tate Paul. She later joined the cast of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a Hulu series that follows several women in the aftermath of that scandal.
In a livestream and subsequent interviews, Paul described the circle as involving intimate interactions among multiple spouses and said the revelation left her feeling “free” after keeping the secret from family and friends. She has said the group’s dynamics—and the fallout from those disclosures—were a factor in her personal life and public profile.
Her time on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has included reconstructions of that period and its consequences. Paul appears alongside co-stars Mayci Neeley, Jennifer Affleck, Demi Engemann, Whitney Leavitt, Mikayla Matthews, Jessi Ngatikaura and Layla Taylor; Miranda McWhorter joined in a later season. Several cast members have pursued other television opportunities—Affleck and Leavitt are participating in Dancing With the Stars—which Paul said in interviews factored into her thinking about taking on a new project.
Paul told Call Her Daddy that she informed her SLOMW co-stars before the announcement and expected support from several of them, though she acknowledged she could not speak for everyone. She said concerns about how the show would work with her responsibilities as a parent were central to her decision-making. Paul has three children: daughter Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 5, from her marriage to Tate Paul, and son Ever True, 1, with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. She and Mortensen ended their relationship in late 2024.
Paul has been candid about the logistical and emotional challenges of accepting a role that typically requires extended travel and immersion in the show’s format. "How do I make this work? I’m a co-parent, I have two baby daddies not one," she said, describing the need to coordinate with multiple co-parents and arrange care. Ultimately, she said she believed she could make the production work by asking for help.
Her personal history also includes a 2023 domestic incident that resulted in arrest. In February 2023, police responded to a fight between Paul and Mortensen in which she was accused of throwing objects. Prosecutors charged her with aggravated assault; she avoided jail time after accepting a plea deal. Additional charges, including two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury and criminal mischief, were later dismissed with prejudice. Paul has said the episode was a turning point that led her to seek therapy and anger-management classes.
In interviews last year, Paul discussed periods of intense personal difficulty that preceded the 2023 incident, including a reported ectopic pregnancy and a chemical pregnancy. She has linked those losses and the end of her marriage to a period of public and private strain.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returns for a third season in November, and Paul said she expected the timing of other cast members’ projects to influence her decision to accept ABC’s offer. ABC and producers did not immediately release additional casting details or confirm filming dates. The Bachelorette Season 22 is scheduled to premiere in 2026 on ABC.
Producers of The Bachelorette have in recent years broadened casting sources within the Bachelor Nation ecosystem, including a notable turn in 2021 when Matt James was named The Bachelor despite coming from outside the show’s typical pipeline. Paul's selection continues that trend by drawing the lead from a different reality series rather than from The Bachelor itself.
ABC’s format traditionally places a single woman at the center of an extended search for a romantic partner, with contestants eliminated over a series of episodes. Paul’s announcement is likely to generate renewed attention around how the franchise handles leads with complicated public histories and parental responsibilities, though producers have not commented publicly on casting considerations beyond the announcement.
Paul said she is both excited and apprehensive about the new role and indicated she would not consider the casting official until production begins and she steps into the limousine that traditionally delivers a Bachelorette to the series’ roses. The network’s pick adds a reality television figure with an established social media following and a storyline that has already played out across multiple platforms, setting the stage for a season that will invite both longtime fans of the franchise and viewers familiar with Paul’s previous television appearances and public controversies.