With just days to go until Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette, the controversial reality star finds herself at the center of a growing scandal.
Paul is being investigated for domestic violence in connection with allegations made by ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen.
The Bachelorette is already losing advertisers, but ABC has shown no indication that they’re willing to cut ties with Taylor and pull the season.
They’d lose millions, of course, but there might come a time when they have no choice — especially now that Dakota is speaking out.
A rep for Mortensen issued a lengthy statement to Entertainment Weekly explaining that Dakota’s top priority at the moment is the health and well-being of his two-year-old son, Ever.
“His number one priority here is protecting [their 2-year-old son], Ever,” the rep tells EW.
“He knew there was a possibility it could come out, but he was not going to be the one to proactively do that because he has always wanted a decent relationship with Taylor.
“It’s been really hard to achieve that, but he wants to co-parent well.”
The rep went on to confirm that Mortensen was not the one who made these allegations public.
“He was just hoping that if he says nothing, as he usually does, it would go away. He’s never done any kind of sit-down interview about his side,” the spokesperson continued.
“He kind of just lets it all happen to him, and I think he realizes with the severity of everything now that he just can’t do that.”
The statement comes as a surprise, as Taylor previously indicated that she wished to keep the situation private, but Dakota had other plans.
“I actually took action about a few weeks ago. I’m just doing third-party everything — pick-up, drop-offs, communication — so no contact right now for me,” she told EW.
“I think that’s the best case, honestly, because clearly it’s just not to a point of us getting along, so I wanted to take the best action I could,” Taylor continued, adding:
“I didn’t want to bring anything to the public eye, making it a bigger deal for the sake of my son, and just everything about to come out. But that wasn’t the plan for [Mortensen].”
Earlier today, Paul appeared on Good Morning America, where she vaguely commented on her scandal, but steered clear of any concrete statements.
“Honestly, it’s been a heavy time to see the headlines, especially during this time of The Bachelorette being released, and it’s supposed to be a really exciting time. I’m a person that will always speak my truth and that’s what I’m known for and so when the time is right, I will be,” she said.
“But right now, just trying to be in the present moment and focus on this.”
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.