Taylor Frankie Paul ‘Weaponizes’ and ‘Manipulates’ Her Fans, Mormon Wives Costar Mikayla Matthews Claims in Scathing Post
Paul was not among the ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ cast members who recently reunited to wrap filming for season 5
NEED TO KNOW
- Mikayla Matthews has spoken out against Taylor Frankie Paul after she seemed to slam MomTok on social media
- The feud bubbled up after the cast of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives reunited to wrap filming for season 5 following a pause in production amid Paul’s legal troubles
- PEOPLE previously learned that Paul is expected to film for the show’s opening credits, however she will not be doing confessionals and is unlikely to film with the other cast members for the intro
Mikayla Matthews has fired back at Taylor Frankie Paul as the MomTok feud continues.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast resumed filming season 5 of the reality show months after Hulu halted production in March. At the time, sources told PEOPLE that several cast members refused to work with Paul, 32. She and her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, have been involved in two domestic violence investigations by Utah police departments.
On Wednesday, July 8, Whitney Leavitt posted a video alongside fellow Mormon Wives cast members Miranda Hope, Jessi Draper, Layla Taylor, Jen Affleck, Mayci Neeley and Mikayla Matthews as they wrapped filming. The post saw them dancing together with overlaying text that read, “We’re surviving,” a play on the ever-present question, “Will MomTok survive this?” — the show’s unofficial tagline since its first season.
Paul replied to the video, writing, “Looks like thriving to me, I’ll show you surviving.” She later appeared to react to the dig from her costars with her own Instagram Reel, which showed screenshots of messages Paul received about various opportunities, including a potential spot on Dancing with the Stars. Leavitt, 33, and Affleck, 27, both competed on the most recent season of the reality dance competition.
Fans later noticed that Paul changed her Instagram bio to credit herself as the “creator of Momtok,” which echoed Leavitt’s July 8 video calling herself the “creator” of the group and the show. She did, however, clarify in her caption, “It’s not founding mother…it’s founding motherSSSSS 😉.”
Matthews, 26, took to her Instagram Stories on Thursday, July 9 to share her opinion on the situation, explaining that she felt compelled to speak up since the situation “involves all my friends hurting or being unfairly bashed.”
“It’s honestly crazy that we’re even arguing about who created what or who’s more relevant. This show was pitched to us, by the way (me, Mayci, Whitney, and Taylor, about stay-at-home moms providing for their families and, of course, ‘MomTok,’ which we all know was started by Miranda, Camille, AND Taylor,” Matthews wrote, referring to her costars and original MomTok influencer Camille Munday, who is not part of the reality series.
“Of course the talks of a show came from the Mormon moms swinging drama being exposed online by Taylor (who wouldn’t want to pick that s— up and watch it!?), and of course we’ve gotten incredible opportunities since, but every single girl had to interview and was cast because of the value and vulnerability THEY brought to make this show what it is today,” she continued. “If they wanted a show about one person or the swinging drama, drama, they would’ve done that.”
Matthews added, “Throwing around the word ‘bully,’ but failing to acknowledge there has to be that power imbalance. Constantly threatening to ‘f*ck someone up’ or ruin their life publicly and using your much bigger platform to send hate to them for the sole reason of taking back that power.”
Seemingly referring to Paul’s claims about opportunities like DWTS, Matthews concluded, “Constantly reposting things and repeatedly pushing the narrative of, ‘I’m the reason you have this, you only got it cause I turned it down, I’m a star and you’re not as interesting. Don’t forget it,’ seems like weaponizing and manipulating your following to keep yourself in that power position to intimidate the people around you over and over.”
However, she will not be filming anything else for the fifth season of the reality series, including confessionals, and a source told us that it’s likely she will film separately from the other cast members for the intro.
In March, after Hulu halted production and news broke of the domestic violence investigations, Mortensen, 33, filed for a protective order against Paul. She then filed for a protective order of her own several weeks later, and the orders were mutually granted for three years at a court appearance on April 30. The exes have appeared in court multiple times, including as recently as July 8 for a custody hearing.
Separately, Paul’s ex-husband, Tate, with whom she shares 8-year-old daughter Indy and 5-year-old son Ocean, filed for a temporary restraining order against her on June 30, though a judge declined to grant the order the following day.
In June, a source also confirmed to PEOPLE that Paul had temporarily checked herself into a rehab facility, which she addressed in a video on her Instagram Stories in July, telling her followers, “I knew that I was in a spot to take a step back and be like, ‘OK, we need a reset.’ ”
Paul has accused Mortensen in court of stalking and, on one occasion, slamming her head into the dashboard of his truck. Mortensen has submitted photographs of physical injuries, including scratches, that he allegedly received during altercations with Paul.
The reality TV star was previously arrested in 2023 for an alleged domestic violence incident with Mortensen, where she was accused of throwing metal chairs at him while her then-5-year-old daughter, Indy, was in the room. Paul pleaded guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault and the other charges were dropped.
Though ABC called off the release of Paul’s season of The Bachelorette in March, network executives have since indicated that the season may air at some future point.
