Taylor Frankie Paul is the next 'Bachelorette.' The 'Mormon Wives' star is 'nervous' — and doesn't 'have notes of how this works'

MomTok, meet Bachelor Nation. On Wednesday, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul was announced as the lead for the upcoming season of The Bachelorette. Paul, 31, officially announced the news during an episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast.

“To be honest, surreal. It has not hit me,” Paul said of being cast. “Like, right now, in this moment, I’m just thinking about it, and it’s, like, not real. It’s not real. And it’s not going to be until I think the limo’s pulling up, you know? Meeting the people. So nervous.”

Paul’s announcement comes as a surprise to Bachelor Nation for a few reasons. As Cooper acknowledged during the podcast episode, ABC was supposed to announce the new lead for the upcoming season of The Bachelor but decided to switch things up by announcing a new Bachelorette instead. That the franchise chose a well-established influencer and reality star in her own right is also a first. Typically, the leads for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are former contestants. Paul, however, has no relation to the franchise.

“I don’t have notes of how this works,” Paul told Cooper of The Bachelorette format.

Below, we’re breaking down everything there is to know about Paul and her upcoming season of The Bachelorette.

Who is Taylor Frankie Paul?

Paul skyrocketed to fame as an influencer on so-called #MomTok, a Utah-based TikTok community of Mormon mothers who create content (lots of dancing!) about their lives. In June 2022, she shocked the community when she announced that she and her then husband, Tate Paul, with whom she shares children Indy and Ocean, were getting divorced. The influencer, now 31, suddenly found herself embroiled in a cheating scandal, as rumors began circulating that she cheated on Tate with her best friend’s husband.

In response to the rumors, Paul exposed that she and her group of friends from MomTok were “soft-swinging” and had an arrangement with one another. The Hulu reality series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, in which Paul stars, premiered in September 2024 and follows the aftermath of Paul’s marriage ending, along with the fallout of the “soft-swinging” scandal.

When will Season 22 of ‘The Bachelorette’ air?

Paul’s season of The Bachelorette is set to debut in 2026. No official premiere date has been announced.

Will Paul still be on ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’?

Yes. The MomToker confirmed to Cooper that she will still continue starring on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Fans will just get to see her on The Bachelorette too.

Season 3 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives premieres on Hulu in November.

How was Paul selected as ‘The Bachelorette’?

After breaking up for good with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, with whom she shares a child, Paul decided to make a TikTok about being single — and wanting to star on The Bachelorette.

“It was a joke to me. Like, unattainable. … And then, I think, I heard there was some talking, and it was, like, we had a meeting. I still didn’t believe it until, like, I got the invitation. ‘Will you be our next Bachelorette?’” Paul told Cooper on Call Her Daddy.

Paul shared that TikTok video back in June, alongside the words, “Sending this in for my chance as the next bachelorette.”

The 31-year-old influencer, however, was initially apprehensive about accepting the offer. How she’d navigate her homelife and coparenting her three children while filming The Bachelorette was of concern.

“I’m a coparent. I have two baby daddies, not one, right? So I’m dealing with two different people, right? My children, my home base is here [in Utah]. Can I travel that long? Can I be gone that long?” Paul wondered. “So, for me, I’m, like, ‘Is this possible for me to do as a single mom? Can I make it work, realistically, no matter how much I want this?’”

Ultimately, Paul told Cooper that she plans on making it work.

“I was, like, ‘If I want to, I can. You can do anything you want, if you want.’ And it comes down to that. So, I was just, like, ‘I will make it work. I have a team of people that I don’t think I utilize.’ I can ask for help more, and I don’t usually,” she added of accepting ABC’s offer as the next Bachelorette.

What has Paul said about her religion?

While chatting with Yahoo in May, Paul opened up about her relationship with Mormonism. She self-identifies as a Sinner, which is a MomTok-created category of Mormons who are more lenient about the rules surrounding their religion.

“I am not by the book, obviously,” she told Yahoo. “I think that goes without saying. But I don't go and be like, 'Oh, I'm a good Mormon girl.' No. But it's there when I want to go to church. Church is for the Sinners. I would hate for someone to go into church and feel bad for what they've done. That's where they're going because they want to feel better — or I would think that's why they're going, right? That's where I go. And that's that.”

Has Paul been in any relationships since getting divorced?

Yes. In addition to showing the aftermath of her marriage, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives also followed Paul’s tumultuous relationship with then-boyfriend Mortensen, whom she began dating shortly after her divorce. Paul also shares a son, Ever, with Mortensen.

Paul and Mortensen’s volatile relationship is showcased in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 1, though they’ve since split for good. In early 2023, the MomTok star was arrested on misdemeanor charges of assault, criminal mischief and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child, according to police. Paul was allegedly intoxicated when she and Mortensen got into an argument. She admitted to throwing multiple items at Mortensen, including a wooden playset, a phone and metal barstools. One barstool thrown by Paul allegedly hit her daughter, who was lying on a sofa next to Mortensen. Paul pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault charge, and the rest were dismissed.

The influencer told Cooper that it’ll “never be a topic” she can broach without having a “lump in my throat because it’s just such a hard time in my life.”

Has Paul said anything else about her upcoming season of ‘The Bachelorette’?

On Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning America, Paul shared a few of the characteristics she’s looking for in her next partner.

“How you treat people is my No. 1, down to things of, like, someone is passing by or a neighbor or your server. Another big one is, ‘Does he have to be Mormon?’ and the answer is no, he doesn’t. I would be open to dating outside my religion and learning about new religions and trying them. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Paul said.

The mom of three, while on Call Her Daddy, also revealed that she’s never dated multiple men at once. Doing so on The Bachelorette, she added, will certainly be a first for her.

“This is something so new for me because, obviously, I got married young, divorced and then the first guy I met was the next relationship,” Paul told Cooper. “You know how The Bachelor works. You’re dating several people. I’ve never done that, so that’ll be new to me.”