The embattled Hulu reality star announced she is leaving "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" ahead of Season 6, accusing her castmates of piling on while she fights two custody battles and faces court-ordered restrictions on her time with her three children.
Taylor Frankie Paul, 32, posted a lengthy statement on Instagram Monday declaring she no longer wants to continue with the show. The announcement caps a turbulent stretch that has included a stint in rehab, alleged failed drug tests, a domestic violence scandal, and the loss of a separate network deal, all playing out in public over the past several months.
Paul framed her exit as a response to sustained mistreatment from fellow cast members who, she said, turned on her during the lowest point of her personal life. She did not name the castmates she accused, but described a coordinated campaign that she said crossed a line when it involved her children.
In the Instagram post, Paul wrote that castmates who knew the details of her personal struggles chose to attack her anyway:
"Some of the girls know what I've been through and then to turn and collectively pile on with their 'statements' knowing there has been ongoing abuse through the system the last 8 months on top of what I've endured. Almost the entire cast plus some, going at me....laughing about my kids is disgusting."
She described the situation as outright harassment, saying it had gone on for an extended period.
"It's to the point of bullying for months now."
Paul also alleged that the same castmates who turned on her had previously urged her to take the lead in pay negotiations with the show's producers, a role she said she declined out of fairness.
"These same people had meetings telling me I need to lead the way of pay....my voice was the only one that can make it happen and then they would work from what I demanded. I'm grateful I never followed through with their requests of demands and I'm grateful I kept same pay out of fairness and integrity. I treated production and crew with respect always, in fact they are ones who checked on me throughout this."
Paul expressed gratitude toward the networks involved with the show, saying they had supported her and given her a chance to return. But she made clear she had reached a breaking point.
"My gratitude goes to all the networks that supported me throughout this and gave me the chance to return. However I don't desire to move forward like this."
"My question has been how much suffering and scrutiny is going to be enough...I'm just relieved to be out."
Paul's departure comes against a backdrop of serious legal and personal trouble. TMZ reported that she allegedly failed multiple court-ordered drug tests within a 60-day window, a development that led to her parenting time being reduced to just eight hours per week total across her three children.
She shares two children, Indy, 8, and Ocean, 6, with ex-husband Tate Paul, and a two-year-old son, Ever, with ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. Under the reported arrangement, Paul receives four hours per week with each set of children. Both of her exes reportedly proposed custody agreements seeking 60 percent custody while offering Paul 40 percent.
Paul briefly checked herself into rehab in June. Earlier in 2023, video surfaced showing her hurling metal stools across a room at Mortensen while her daughter Indy was present. That incident resurfaced this year when ABC canceled Paul's planned appearance on Season 22 of "The Bachelorette," and production on "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" halted in March over domestic abuse allegations.
Despite all of that, Paul was confirmed as part of the Season 6 cast earlier this month, a decision that itself generated friction among her co-stars.
Paul is not the only cast member to walk away. Mikayla Matthews, a co-star on the Hulu series, alluded on Instagram, without naming Paul directly, that Paul's return to the show had spurred Matthews' own decision to quit. The timing of Matthews' post and the lack of specifics left the details vague, but the implication was clear enough for viewers following the drama.
Unnamed insiders described the networks as "supportive" of Paul and said she "has been working on herself." A representative for Paul did not respond to Page Six at the time of publication.
Paul said in her post that she had originally been willing to step aside voluntarily to reduce tension among the cast, and that she had returned to that position.
"I originally was willing to be removed to let them all continue on with less stress and I'm back to that point."
What remains unanswered is how Paul ended up back on the show in the first place. A woman with a documented history of violent outbursts on camera, alleged failed drug tests, and drastically restricted custody was brought back for another season of a reality franchise, only for the arrangement to collapse within weeks under the weight of the same problems that preceded it.
The show's production had already been shut down once this year over domestic abuse allegations tied to Paul. Networks described as "supportive" gave her another chance. Now she is out again, blaming her castmates for hostility that, whatever its merits, was at least partly a predictable consequence of the controversy she brought with her.
None of this excuses cruelty toward anyone's children, if Paul's account of that behavior is accurate. But the cycle here is familiar: a reality television apparatus that profits from chaos, invites volatile personalities back to generate headlines, and then acts surprised when the situation deteriorates. The people who pay the steepest price are the three kids whose mother now sees them eight hours a week.
