Key Points
Secret Lives of Mormon Wives executive producer Jeff Jenkins has given the first indications of his plans for Taylor Frankie Paul’s and Dakota Mortensen’s futures with the show.
Exes Paul and Mortensen, who share 2-year-old son Ever, have been at the center of controversy stemming from a series of domestic assault allegations.
“I’ve talked to Taylor, and she wants to come back, and I want her to come back,” Jenkins said.
An important insider just shed light on one of the most burning questions in reality TV.
Jeff Jenkins, the executive producer of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, spoke to Variety on Wednesday about the future of the series amid a seemingly unending cascade of largely off-screen controversy that has plagued its cast as of late, from cast member Miranda Hope accusing her costar, Jessi Draper, of kissing her husband, to Draper’s contentious divorce with ex Jordan Ngatikaura.
But all other scandals are eclipsed by the one so bright and glaring that it got a season of The Bachelorette canceled just days ahead of its premiere: the domestic assault allegations against SLOMW star Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex, Dakota Mortensen, which put production of the reality series’ fifth season on pause.
The veteran producer noted, “I went through on season 1 of The Simple Life, when a sex tape was released very much against Paris Hilton’s wishes, and that was a certain kind of nightmare. I went through Kim Kardashian being robbed in her apartment, tied up and held at gunpoint, and thrown into a bathtub.”
The Simple Life and The Kardashians survived those ordeals, and the impacted stars returned to the screen. But will Paul and Mortensen?
The cast of ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ season 4
Credit: Disney
“This is new and different. I haven’t really been through something like this before, and it has been a challenging couple months,” Jenkins admitted. “But I’m very happy to say, as [Disney unscripted boss] Rob Mills recently shared, we got the green light to start moving toward shooting the mothership again. We’re very close. The cast members I’ve talked to are excited to get back in there and get back at it. We’ve been on pause for almost two months, so I’m excited to get back at it.”
The trouble between Paul and Mortensen began with a 2023 fight that culminated in Paul throwing metal chairs at her former partner. Paul ultimately pleaded guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault following the altercation, which was discussed at length on the first season of Mormon Wives. Paul is currently on probation until August.
Recently, Paul and Mortensen were implicated in another alleged domestic violence incident said to have occurred in 2024 and two more from February. Mormon Wives season 5 paused production amid the ensuing investigation into these allegations, as Mortensen and Paul have been hit with mutual protective orders in the legal battle over custody of their 2-year-old son, Ever.
But will either of them ever appear on Mormon Wives again?
“I’ve talked to Taylor, and she wants to come back, and I want her to come back. So I’m really hopeful that that’s going to happen… I’m very hopeful that she’ll be back very soon, and I’m hopeful we can do all sorts of other projects with her as well,” Jenkins noted.
As for Mortensen, Jenkins noted the protective orders “that are official, so fortunately or unfortunately, whatever your perspective, we won’t be able to shoot with them together, ever again, or at least for a very long time. But I’m very hopeful that we’ll be shooting with both of them or either of them very soon.”
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There have been production shakeups beyond the legal fracas still engulfing Paul’s and Mortensen’s lives — and the show by association. SLOMW breakout Witney Leavitt, who has gone on to appear on Dancing With the Stars and in the leading role of Chicago on Broadway, announced she was leaving SLOMW earlier this month. Then Jen Affleck, a Mormon Wives O.G. who competed against Leavitt on DWTS, announced she was joining the cast of its first-ever spinoff, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County.
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