NEW: A 3rd Domestic Violence Investigation of Would-Be Bachelorette Taylor Frankie Paul

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Wednesday, March twenty fifth, and the domestic violence incidents are starting to add up for Taylor Frankie Paul, the would be Bachelorette, with word now that there is a third domestic violence investigation going on, and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. I didn't see this coming. We knew about one, and all of a sudden went up to two, and now we're up to three.

00:00:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to say this was very shocking to hear and read about. And this is all confirmed by police that they are yes investigating a third allegation, all from Dakota. At this point, Dakota Mortensen has said, I guess he reportedly filed this complaint a month ago.

00:00:56
Speaker 3: And so now you've got two separate police.

00:01:00
Speaker 2: Urisdictions investigating two separate domestic violence allegations, and a district attorney looking at all of it to determine what, if any, charges should be filed.

00:01:10
Speaker 1: She's been found not been found guilty of anything. Actually by a jury, she pleaded guilty to one back in twenty twenty three. But Robes, these two incidents, we do want to keep them in context. These are accusations. She has not been charged with anything in these latest two However, Robes this stuff is starting to add up to a point that yes, it might look bad for her, but folks are going to continue to look at the producers and the company who moved forward. I know they were rolling the dice, but damn they didn't know about any of this.

00:01:43
Speaker 2: And I would think that Disney executives might even be breathing a sigh of relief. I know that sounds strange, but if they were in the middle of the Bachelorette hearing and all of this started coming out while the season was going on, that would have been even more disruptive. I know it's hard to it could be worse, but it feels like it could be given what we're hearing now. And do you remember when this first came out, we started hearing or seeing and reading about rumblings.

00:02:10
Speaker 1: That there were all these videos.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: Well, now that appears to be true, and that appears to be why there was this murmur of videos plural because police are confirming that, yes, they are reviewing multiple videos of this particular incident in twenty twenty four.

00:02:28
Speaker 1: So let's get you caught up here. Folks. It's a little confusing, but you are talking now three possible domestic violence incidents that are I guess at this point Robes publicly known about that police have or are in the middle of investigating. So as we know, Bachelorette season got cancered. Taylor Frankie Paul her season was canceled after the video came out of her twenty twenty three incident. Now let's start there. The twenty twenty three incident is one that we knew about. It was documented, if you will, in the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. This was one people knew about. She pled guilty to one charge, and she's been on probation, knew about that, and she still got picked to be the bachelorette. Fine, And that is the incident that the video came out about that ended up getting her scratched and bachelorette. That's incident number one. Now, in the midst of that, Robes we heard about incident number two that was being investigated. And this one is one that we're told happened after the Bachelorette was done shooting.

00:03:31
Speaker 2: Correct, So this one, the second one we're talking about, was reportedly it reportedly happened over two separate nights, on February twenty fourth and February twenty fifth, And yes, she had come back from LA after having finished filming The Bachelorette. We don't know if she was engaged at that point to another man. We don't know what the fight was about. But there were two separate incidents that Dakota has gone into great detail explaining in the police report.

00:03:58
Speaker 1: So that's being investigated.

00:04:00
Speaker 2: And now this third allegation, again from Dakota, reportedly happened in twenty twenty four, So now you've got basically allegations in twenty twenty three, not even allegations, a guilty plate. Then twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five, and here's the deal. She's been on probation, as you mentioned this entire time. It doesn't end until August, so that is going to be a huge issue for her if any of these videos show her doing anything criminal. Now police say they have not spoken to Taylor Frankie Paul yet, but they have spoken with her attorney about this new investigation, and they are asking for Taylor Frankie Paul to submit a written statement or come in to be interviewed.

00:04:48
Speaker 1: This is serious. It's serious roles because, as we know, when you have probation, if you don't end up in jail, you do have to follow very strict rules, and some of those rules include no like something as simple as no alcohol, no drugs. Now, having a beer might not seem like the biggest deal in the world, but roads we have seen time and time again, those are considered violations of your probation and some pretty significant penalties can come. We are now talking about a situation Rose where she is on probation for something back in twenty twenty three, and now we have two two incidents that absolutely, on the face of them, would absolutely be violations of that probation. So you could be looking at possible punishment from that probation violation as well as new punishment from the current Well, this is now a big This is not just a career thing. This has now become a very big legal mess for.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: Her and could be a yes, and I was going to say it could be. It wasn't just a career.

00:05:45
Speaker 2: Thing, it could be now a freedom thing. I mean this you're talking about potential going to jail for these types of charges.

00:05:53
Speaker 3: These are not minor issues.

00:05:56
Speaker 2: These are major violent offenses if she were charged and convicted.

00:06:01
Speaker 3: Of any of them.

00:06:02
Speaker 2: Now, the Salt Lake County District attorney because it is confusing with the different police jurisdictions, but yes, they did confirm their looking into both the February twenty twenty five and the twenty twenty four allegations. They actually put out some statements saying that they've requested videos and quote all investigative material to screen the most recent allegations for charges, And here was their exact statement. We made the request because of the potential that if charges are filed, they could be enhanced due to a prior plea in abance to a domestic violence offense.

00:06:38
Speaker 1: For a point of clarity, the latest incident was this year, yes, twenty twenty six, February.

00:06:44
Speaker 3: Of twenty twenty five. I made twenty twenty six.

00:06:48
Speaker 1: Sorry, it was confusing myself. So this is where I was trying to figure out rope. So if this incident happened, we're talking a month ago, correct, the latest and the accusation that they were investigating, also saying that Dakota only reached out recently about the twenty twenty four incident. Now, why is that.

00:07:07
Speaker 2: I think he's pissed. I think he had these videos. I think he kept these videos. I don't know what he knew he was going to do with them, but he kept them for a reason. And I think, look, enough has escalated, and she is attacking him publicly through her spokespeople, insinuating that he is the violent offender, that he is the one that has kept her frightened and scared and kept her silent all these years. When those statements came out, it would be my opinion he's like, yeah, I got the proof.

00:07:35
Speaker 1: You're talking about. From that initial statement, I can't remember that's the one we're talking about, right, Yeah, the first one she put out saying her called him an abuser kind of went didn't say his name, but it was. It wasn't insinuation. She clearly called him a physical abuser.

00:07:49
Speaker 2: They didn't name him, but clearly we all knew what he was talking what they were talking about. And so I look, I'm just thinking to me, if the Dakota we saw on that bodycam footage.

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Was released yesterday, seemed to still be very much.

00:08:02
Speaker 2: In love with Taylor, wanting to protect her, not wanting her to go to jail.

00:08:06
Speaker 1: But look, I have also possibly you.

00:08:10
Speaker 3: Know what, I don't know what acting you're saying.

00:08:11
Speaker 1: Oh well, I didn't want to say that, but Rose, we don't know what happened behind the scenes. She is hurling accusations his way as well and telling us that he is an abuser of some kind. We have to leave room for that. But at the same time, Ropes, we he doesn't have to make the accusation against her.

00:08:27
Speaker 3: We see it, see, and that's that's the point.

00:08:30
Speaker 2: She says all of this, and we don't know whether or not that's true or not. He really hasn't even said that much. He's just released videos, or at least submitted them to police, and they've somehow wound up in the hands of DMZ. But the point being is he doesn't have to say anything. He's got all of these recordings, and look, they might be taken out of context.

00:08:50
Speaker 3: They might only show her ugliness and not his.

00:08:54
Speaker 2: We you know, obviously videos can be edited a certain way or omit a lot of other behaviors, so we're not I'm absolutely leaving room for that absolute possibility. But right now this doesn't look good for Taylor.

00:09:09
Speaker 1: Kind of off track a little bit, but it popped in my mind. Would would this if the child was not in the room when she tossed those stools, would that have been nothing more than reality show fought her?

00:09:26
Speaker 3: I don't think so.

00:09:27
Speaker 2: This was vicious and those were heavy, heavy metal chairs. It wasn't like she threw a vase at him and he ducked.

00:09:33
Speaker 1: Let's go. Then, can you really tell me you think that what we saw in that video was so out of left feel from stuff we have seen for years in reality TV. I'm asking seriously, Yeah, I think.

00:09:44
Speaker 3: That rose to a whole other level. And you combine that with her.

00:09:46
Speaker 2: Choking him, scratching him like and you could hear him, you know, and kind of gasping for air, and he had marks and bruises that were documented. So yeah, it it's beyond just flipping a table like Teresa judah I did and breaking some glasses in the process because she's angry, Like, I think you can.

00:10:04
Speaker 3: Throw something against a wall or flip the table.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: Not saying that's behavior to be proud of, but it certainly doesn't feel like violence targeted towards a specific person with the intent to do harm, and that's what that video.

00:10:17
Speaker 3: Looked like, oh, it was directly and wanted to her. Oh yeah, physically wanted him to feel pain.

00:10:24
Speaker 1: That's not a whole lot of ways to interpret what we saw. I don't know what happened before and what happened after, but what we saw is simply what we saw. Ropes this now ropes. I don't know how this changes the story necessarily for anybody. If they canceled the show, They're probably going to be some lawsuits. She's going to face whatever, criminalize. But does this change anything now that we know this? The question for me rope because we were kind of complimentary, not taking sides people want to, but reading him from the videos, yeah, he didn't look like a guy who was mean and after her in the moment with the police video right, absolutely.

00:11:05
Speaker 3: Did not appear that way at all. Quite the opposite.

00:11:08
Speaker 1: So we say that, But now robes this suggestion that he has gone back and called police about a twenty twenty four incident, like this is new. He is reporting a twenty twenty four incident just here in recent days. Why would he do that? That now lends itself to a guy who is pissed and who is trying to get at her. Yeah, and things have changed, and it feels like he has videos like a lot. He didn't just call up the police and say, hey, I want to report an incident.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: He obviously knows what's at stake, He knows the world is watching, and if he is, he's not just going to make empty accusations at this point. He has the receipts and it looks like he gave them to police. But Taylor Frankie Paul's mom has also been speaking out. She has gone on social media. This is truly not just a criminal case that's brewing. This is obviously and always is a pr campaign behind the scenes at the exact same time.

00:12:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, is this the the what's the thing? The bug that landed on her? What was the thing? A ladybug?

00:12:12
Speaker 2: Yes?

00:12:13
Speaker 1: Is that the one we're talking about? What does the ladybug mean when it lands on you? Again? Good luck? Okay. We were complimentary of the mom because I hadn't seen her before. We watched episode the last episode of season four of Mormon Wives, and this woman looked genuine She looked like she understood the stakes. She understood how you know. She looked genuinely disappointed in her daughter and her behavior, and not wanting to go to the bachelorette, that she was making bad decisions with this guy. Again I got any good impression of her?

00:12:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, faith is the centerpiece.

00:12:44
Speaker 1: This was the think about it.

00:12:46
Speaker 2: The show began the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and it was centered around faith. And you met Taylor Frankie Paul's family and they are they are Mormon and they practiced, and so part of what her mom put on social media was yes, the Ladybug, which she said brings good luck and for and fortune, divine protection and transformation in new beginnings.

00:13:06
Speaker 3: That's what the Ladybug symbolizes. You know, I love that stuff.

00:13:09
Speaker 2: But she also had a Bible verse there, and I don't know how much she's talking to Taylor herself and why she can't just give this stuff to her on her.

00:13:19
Speaker 1: Text because it's PR.

00:13:20
Speaker 3: But it's PR.

00:13:21
Speaker 2: So yes, there's no reason for her mom to be communicating with Taylor and the world on social media unless this is, yes, a part of the PR.

00:13:28
Speaker 3: But she said, we often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do. We never give up in times of trouble.

00:13:35
Speaker 1: God is with us. What does she give Yeah, Corinthians, yes, yes, the Corinthians.

00:13:41
Speaker 2: Yes, Corinthians, two Corinthians. And then yeah, there was the chapter in the first I.

00:13:45
Speaker 1: Mean that should be our quote of the day. No, I that's great. I'm assumed she's in communication with her daughter, right, but it is to have a public show of support from those that are close to you is important at these times. And her mom is profile, she's been on the show, so yes to have her in.

00:14:02
Speaker 2: Now.

00:14:02
Speaker 1: We heard from mom, we heard from Dakota, and yes, we are also hearing from Frankie Taylor. Frankie Taylor, Frankie Paul. Still haven't quite got that white white right, Yeah, we should talk about the racial part of this whole story as well while we're at it. You know what, let's do that next as well. We will get into what is certainly being seen as a double standard, and we will let you hear what Taylor, Frankie Paul herself has been saying. Right we continue here on Amy and TJ. What was the slip I just made? I was trying to say all something I say, and all white, it's all right because it's all white. What the actual hell can you imagine?

00:14:58
Speaker 2: You're just saying if all of the parties involved were black.

00:15:02
Speaker 1: Sweetheart, Rachel Lindsay, the first words I ever spoke to her were, sister, I'm worried about you before I even introduced myself, when I found out that she was going to be the first black bachelorette. Why because of the standard. People are gonna be looking at you as the first and they assume things about you. So every time you get mad, you get there's an angry black woman. They think she's gonna be aggressive. And this was a rolling of the dice for Disney ABC taking a chance on a black bachelorette. That was a risk. There is a domestic abuser, and they hadn't. That's not a risk that that's we're good here, We'll celebrate her. Let's lift her up. That is what they embraced robes And it was such a big risk to have a black woman lead the show versus a white one who has a domestic violence guilty plea on her record. That's hilarious.

00:16:01
Speaker 3: Well we see how both of those ended up.

00:16:03
Speaker 1: See, we didn't even this wasn't supposed to be a part of the show today. But but yeah, I mean it's those things are worth always talking about recognizing the standards that have to be met, how careful she had to be as a black woman being on that show because of what she represented, and how someone else squandered the opportunity, didn't take it seriously. And yes, Roobes got an opportunity that so many others would have won it, and she got it despite having I mean, how many crimes out there can we talk about that will immediately disqualify you from a dating show.

00:16:41
Speaker 2: Yes, and I think domestic violence would other than murder or attempted murder, would be right up in the top three.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: You're automatically even if you did your time for your crime and.

00:16:54
Speaker 2: Had a little I mean there it was in front of a child, but add a little child abuse to that too. Child had a goose egg on her forehead from and she didn't she wasn't aiming for her daughter. Still, when you throw something heavy and metal in your child's in the room, or you're too drunk to know your child's in the room, despite a your partner telling you that she is repeatedly.

00:17:17
Speaker 1: A dating show, let's talk about a dating show.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: When you take a step back and you actually look at what Disney and Hulu execs had to look at when they were making this decision. It actually is mind blowing to think that they thought this was all going to end well for them.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: It was a risk, right, it was a It was a big risk, and yes they lost, and they knew they were either going to win big or lose big, and they ended up losing big. I would love to see the board of who was the runner up and who was the third choice and the fourth choice in the fifth like all the women they passed on to her.

00:17:52
Speaker 2: I wonder if they know who they are. They would have to have known they were in the running.

00:17:56
Speaker 1: I wonder I don't remember it because that was the delay of the show, and they didn't do it in the summer like normal, and it seemed like they weren't necessarily recruiting anybody. They just fucked That is true.

00:18:05
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:18:05
Speaker 2: We look if there's a lot of talk out there that the entire franchise is over, like they cannot even do a Bachelor now because it's just always going to bring this up. They might have to just completely and totally scrap and be done with the entire franchise. But that is what folks are talking about and it does make sense. I mean, any time, even if The Bachelor starts its new season, everyone is just going to bring this back up and talk about this again, and that is the last thing that they want.

00:18:37
Speaker 1: You know, we need more of Golden Bachelorette. Seriously, that's a that's a really that's a totally different show when you watch it and these people they all have it backgrounds and they've been through things in their lives and they lost other spouses, they've raised kids. There's heart to that show that Does Bachelor Bachelorette have heart?

00:18:58
Speaker 2: No, it hasn't heat on it, and that's about all they got and that's what they were looking for.

00:19:02
Speaker 3: But it was just too hot. Taylor franky ball what she's saying.

00:19:07
Speaker 1: The notes, I know you said, she's putting some stuff out on social media and she's been saying little things here and there, and she's sending a message with the sweater she was wearing and she's taking it.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: Looks like she's a not taking it seriously by the paparazzi shots, but we don't know. They catch you at different places, but you choose to wear what you're look when you know cameras are on you and you know that photographers are following your every move.

00:19:29
Speaker 3: You know when you wear something.

00:19:31
Speaker 2: Remember Kelly Rippa was making a statement when the whole Michael straighthand Kelly Rippa thing, and she wore a hoodie that basically implied that she was like she was sending a message with her hoodie.

00:19:43
Speaker 3: I can everyone else remembers that? You don't remember that?

00:19:47
Speaker 1: Really, I don't remember what a woman was wearing to send the message to the world, now, I don't people. I remember Amalania Trump wore a jacket one time that had a message on the back that people got upset about. I remember that one.

00:19:59
Speaker 3: Are you serious?

00:20:00
Speaker 2: Yes? No?

00:20:02
Speaker 3: But anyway, she wore a jacket that said freedom.

00:20:05
Speaker 2: So she walked around when she was refusing to come to the show, when she was upset that Strahan was going over to GMA, And she walked around, knowing paparazzi or following her, with a jacket that said freedom on the back of it.

00:20:16
Speaker 3: And then we have Taylor, Oh you've got Taylor.

00:20:18
Speaker 1: Says can't wait to sleep with you on the back.

00:20:21
Speaker 2: Yep. So then she the next day, when she knows paparazzi are following her, she wears a sweatshirt that says can't.

00:20:27
Speaker 3: Wait to sleep with you. And by the way, that hoodie is sold out.

00:20:29
Speaker 1: Now you know what, maybe she's sold out from who's the maid.

00:20:32
Speaker 3: Well maybe she was.

00:20:33
Speaker 2: Trying to help a local vendor, but I know that it sold out. That was like one of the big stories. So yeah, look, she she has made some cheeky responses through comments and letting folks know she's not going to go away, and also saying that the video that continues to populate everywhere is hurting her daughter. She's having to have more conversations with her daughter, She's having to re explain things and reheal her daughter. So she basically saying, y'all are hurting my family.

00:21:03
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that's true. And look, there is a there are a lot of people. I guess we're talking about the wrong people, and it comes to who needs I guess the biggest hug in this whole thing, and her those kids are hurting. Yeah that I mean it's crazy as those women are on secret lives and Mormon wives, I say crazy all affectionate Leila Macy love y'all. But what I'm saying they've put a lot into that as well. They're going through something. This is a friend, they love her, they fight with her, sure on the show, but this whole community, if you will, that has been built up from a TikTok group is hurting Theaye. They pulled off something pretty incredible with that show, and she pulled off something incredible to be chosen as the bachelorette. Like to see this all come down, Bro, I don't. I don't celebrate. This isn't fun, This isn't a I'm not saying he look, Disney you got which we don't have any ill will toward Disney and ABC and and that show and Jesse Palmer, who we adore. We don't want to see something bad happen to this show, all the Bachelor and bachelorettes and friends and relationships we have surrounding that show. No, this is a damn, damn shame and we want everybody to be okay, but roam that we have to elevate the conversation to more than just what money is being lost. This is about domestic violence, and we have an option to have a conversation a little calmly, a little more decently right now that I don't think we're having we're almost dismissive of what is at the center of this story, and right now we're putting at the center reality shows, reality stars, a big company, and millions lost. Okay, I get it.

00:22:44
Speaker 2: No, but you make such good points about all the other people affected and impacted that people aren't thinking about, are talking about.

00:22:49
Speaker 1: This is their livelihoods.

00:22:51
Speaker 2: That show Mormon Wives was everything to so many women and their families. This was their source of income, and now it's all up in the it's all unclear what's going to happen.

00:23:02
Speaker 3: By the way, what was Malania's jacket?

00:23:05
Speaker 1: I would say, I don't I really don't care, do you.

00:23:10
Speaker 3: I remember that?

00:23:11
Speaker 1: Wait?

00:23:11
Speaker 3: When was she wearing that? There was a specific She obviously was saying something to.

00:23:15
Speaker 1: The work immigration story that was a big heat, like a hot story at the time, and she wore that one. So, yes, clothes, we should pick something. I don't know what. Mine would say, you have.

00:23:24
Speaker 2: A funny one, you have no pictures, you have a that one to the game. That one is very funny, no pictures. And then I also like your trophy husband, that's a good one. That's a good one too. It's fun to send messages and clearly that is what is going on behind the scenes. I mean this is these are all choices that folks are making when they know they're being taken well pictures are being taken of that.

00:23:47
Speaker 1: Well, folks, we didn't expect this update to this story. We expect plenty of updates to keep coming, but we didn't expect this one. But we will keep a close eye on all things happening with the Bachelorette fall out. As always, top right corner of your Apple podcast stap where you see our show page a little button there that says follow click that you can always get our updates, and there have been a plenty here lately. But as always, we appreciate you spending time with us on TJ Holmes on behalf of my dear Amy Robot talk to me