How Taylor Frankie Paul’s Recent Fling Reacted to Bachelorette News

As ABC confirms the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star will lead Season 22, Paul opens up about her split from Dakota Mortensen, her recent fling and whether her suitors have to be Mormon.

Taylor Frankie Paul is officially stepping into uncharted territory as the new star of The Bachelorette — and even she can’t believe it.

After ABC announced the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives alum as the Season 22 lead, Paul admitted the news still feels “surreal.”

“It has not hit me,” she told Alex Cooper during Wednesday’s all-new Call Her Daddy. “It’s not real. It’s not gonna be until like, the limo is pulling up and I’m meeting the people.”

The 31-year-old added she’s already feeling the pressure. “Like, how did I get here?” Paul continued. “In my head, it’s like, ‘how is this happening?'”

Even Cooper acknowledged fans would be stunned by the casting choice. “But she’s never even been a part of The Bachelor! This is gonna be great for ratings,” the host teased a trailer for the episode.

And though Paul, who is a mom to Indy, 8, and Ocean, 5, with ex Tate Paul and Ever, 18 months, with ex Dakota Mortensen, had once joked online about being The Bachelorette, she confessed she never thought it would happen.

“It was like, unattainable,” she explained before sharing how a TikTok put the MomTok member on the ABC show’s radar.

“I made a TikTok actually being like, you know, well, ’cause people were like, ‘You should go on The Bachelorette. Obviously, my relationship was not, you know, it didn’t work out or it wasn’t working out and people could see that and they’re like, ‘You should just, you know, go on The Bachelorette.’ I used to see little side comments, so I made a funny video and this was actually three years prior. I made the same video, but I was like, ‘Hey, I’m single. I think I’m looking for someone.’ That’s what the TikTok’s saying,'” Paul shared. “‘I hope someone will take me, you know, I’m on probation. I’m also this,’ and all these things aligned that actually had been, it’s like a Lindsay Lohan TikTok, and then I literally was like, ‘Ah, let’s just say The Bachelorette, set it off,’ and then once I did, people started tagging The Bachelorette, like, ‘You should, you should, you should,’ and I don’t know if that got their attention or someone was like, ‘Yeah, maybe.'”

She continued, “And then, I heard there was some talking and we had a meeting and I still didn’t believe it until I got the invitation that was like, ‘Will you be our Bachelorette?'”

Still, the decision didn’t come without some hesitation.

“I’m like, ‘Is this possible for me to do as a single mom?” she shared. “‘Can I make it work realistically no matter how much I want this?’ And I was like, ‘I can.’ You can do anything you want.”

As far as the men she’s hoping to find, Paul, who grew up in the Mormon church said the guy she’s hoping to end up with doesn’t necessarily have to be Mormon.

“I’d be open to Mormons. I still am obviously because I’m Mormon, but he doesn’t have to be,” Paul said.

When it comes to how that will play into the dates — particularly the fantasy suites — Paul said she has a game plan.

“For me, I do know how I’m gonna go into that, but I don’t want to give that away yet,” she teased before sharing how she’d handle the possibility of getting physical with her final three.

“That’s a huge thing in marriages, and if you don’t connect, that could be a huge issue down the road when you’re married, and I do think that. And that’s where it gets confusing for me, ’cause I understand the waiting game,” Paul shared. “In that situation, per se, two, three people — for me, I would feel disrespectful doing it to two people.”

And she’s using her past experiences, particularly with her ex, Dokota Mortensen as a guide, telling Cooper, “I can go back from my own experiences, like the issue was what you didn’t tell me, like I was blinded by it, that’s where it hurts. It’s the betrayal of it.”

Paul did maintain, however, that her on-and-off relationship with Mortensen is “over,” adding that the pair haven’t been intimate in months.

“It’s over. And we’ll see that play out,” Paul teased of the show’s upcoming third season, which premieres in November. “It’s been very confusing if I’m being honest. And I did want to end up with him. That was no secret to anybody. It still isn’t a — it wasn’t a secret. And I’ll always admit that to whoever asked me did I love him? Absolutely. I had a baby with him. I wanted to be with him, but it just did not work out. There were certain things that were forever closing for me. And again, everyone will see that. And I can’t speak on that yet, but it closed the book for me, but it was really hard to let go.”

Paul did date a bit before going on the show, telling Cooper after being married and then going straight into a relationship with Mortensen, she wanted a little practice before being thrust into dating 25 men.

“I wanted to date a little bit before. And that’s the point. I haven’t dated, I need to get back into it,” Paul said before dishing on her recent fling. “He’s not from Utah. He’s from a different state. So I was like, ‘Hey, I don’t know you. You don’t know me. We seem like we’d vibe. Come visit.'”

The pair met, funnily enough, on TikTok.

“He was singing and playing guitar. He doesn’t normally — I don’t think he’s, it was like new to him too. So I I was like, ‘Dude, this guy’s got a voice.’ And I’ve never one watched sat and watched a TikTok live. Nor do I write on them. So I was the one who was like, ‘You have a really good voice. Can you play this song?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, hey Taylor.'”

The mystery man didn’t even realize who Paul was until the pair started chatting after the Live. And while the relationship has been fleeting, Paul did confirm that she told him that she’s set to star on the dating competition show.

“There’s no feelings there, so he was like, ‘Cool,'” she said, noting that she did ask him to sign up to be one of the contestants, but he politely declined, with Paul calling that a “green flag.”

“He’s like ‘Go do your thing. You know, if you meet someone, we weren’t met to be. And if not, maybe I’ll be here,” Paul added telling Cooper she’s glad to “there’s a good guy there” if it doesn’t work out with anyone on the show.

Season 22 of The Bachelorette is scheduled to begin in 2026.