Kailyn Lowry is passionately defending Taylor Frankie Paul after ABC canceled the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star’s season of The Bachelorette just days before its debut.
“She pled guilty. She got help. She did all the things in 2023,” Kailyn, 34, said about Taylor, 31, on the Monday, March 23, episode of her “Coffee Convos” podcast alongside Lindsie Chrisley.
The Teen Mom alum credited Taylor for taking accountability and steps toward bettering herself after being arrested in February 2023. At the time, the Mormon Wives star was charged with aggravated assault, two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief stemming from a physical altercation with her now-ex Dakota Mortensen.
“I don’t want to speak about what I didn’t see, which was the child,” Kailyn said, “but I also want to acknowledge the fact that reactive abuse is a real thing and if she was ever dealing with a narcissist or someone who was violent first and did not film himself being violent.”
Taylor ultimately pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault in exchange for dismissing the other charges. After entering a “plea in abeyance,” her aggravated assault charge would drop to a misdemeanor in August of this year if she followed the agreement’s conditions, including not violating any laws. She was placed on 36-month probation, which is set to end on August 24.
The deal also included mandatory counseling, substance abuse and domestic violence evaluations.
Dakota Mortensen and Taylor Frankie Paul. Disney/Fred Hayes
“Again, I don’t know, I’m just speculating,” Kailyn continued about what happened between the exes during the aforementioned dispute. “We can’t hold her to a different standard if he’s antagonizing her and doing things like that and then she’s being recorded, that’s not fair.”
On March 16, it was revealed that Dakota, 33, and Taylor are currently involved in an open domestic assault investigation about a separate February incident and that “allegations have been made in both directions.”
Days later, TMZ published a video of the 2023 fight, in which Taylor was seen hurling metal chairs at Dakota, with one seemingly striking her daughter, who was on the couch at the time. (Taylor shares daughter Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 5, with ex-husband Tate Paul, as well as son Ever, 2, with Dakota.)
A Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson announced that same day that Taylor’s new season of The Bachelorette would no longer air.
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” the statement read. The premiere of season 22 was slated for Sunday, March 22.
A rep for Taylor also spoke out after the video of her dispute with Dakota was leaked.
“It’s sad to see the latest installment of his never-ending, desperate, attention-seeking, destructive campaign to harm Taylor without any regard for the consequences for their child,” her spokesperson told TMZ. “Releasing an old and selectively edited video on their son’s birthday is a reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior.”
Dakota, for his part, broke his silence following news of the domestic assault investigation, with his rep telling Entertainment Weekly, “His No. 1 priority here is protecting Ever.” Dakota also denied rumors that he is the reason the situation has been made public.
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