Dakota Mortensen is speaking out, through a spokesperson, for the first time since police in Utah launched an investigation into domestic violence allegations involving his ex-girlfriend, Taylor Frankie Paul.
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, representatives for Mortensen stated that “he was just hoping that if he says nothing, as he usually does, it would go away.” Publicity around the investigation largely picked up after news broke that production on Season Five of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives would be temporarily halted during the investigation.
In an explanation for why Mortensen would have preferred to keep the investigation private, his reps pointed toward the two-year-old son the former couple shares. “He knew there was a possibility it could come out, but he was not going to be the one to proactively do that because he has always wanted a decent relationship with Taylor,” the statement read. “It’s been really hard to achieve that, but he wants to co-parent well.”
The investigation still has a level of privacy in the sense that details have largely been kept under wraps by all involved parties. The police have only said that “allegations have been made in both directions,” and that both parties were contacted in late February. The department described it as an “domestic-assault investigation.”
“He’s never done any kind of sit-down interview about his side,” the statement continued. “He kind of just lets it all happen to him, and I think he realizes with the severity of everything now that he just can’t do that.”
Paul spoke out on March 17 during an appearance at a press event in New York City for her upcoming season of The Bachelorette. “My heart hurts to see it, to go through it, especially at this time,” she told People. “Just the timing is hard, and it’s a big deal. I feel like every premiere that I’ve experienced, I’ve never enjoyed fully, so this is another one … it’s extremely hard, and it took everything to get me here today.”
In 2023, Paul was arrested after allegedly choking, striking, and throwing stools at Mortensen, with one of the stools allegedly hitting her daughter from a previous relationship. Paul later pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault; other charges against her were dismissed.
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