“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” Season 5 Has the Drama

Taylor Frankie Paul at a court hearing on April 30 in Salt Lake City. The reality TV star will be seen in Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Photo by Bethany Baker/Pool/Getty Images/TNS

If you thought you couldn’t get sicker of Taylor Frankie Paul and her baby daddy Dakota Mortensen, you were wrong. Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was both chaotic and underwhelming, and over too soon.

“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” follows eight influencers who make content together in a tight-knit group nicknamed “MomTok.” The show chronicles their dramas and traumas, their families and motherhood, and their relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the LDS Church.

The LDS Church teaches that a woman’s priority is being a wife and a mother, but the women of MomTok have smashed that standard, showing audiences that they can be good mothers while also having successful careers.

The newest season consisted of only five episodes, which was half the length of their usual seasons. In March, Mortensen filed a domestic violence charge against Paul, causing production to be paused. Fans speculated that they’d finish filming without the couple, but instead, they kept Season 5 short and jumped to filming Season 6.

Season 5 began with a heavy tone as the girls discussed Paul’s domestic violence charge and the decision to stop filming. The absence of music reminded audiences of the weight of the situation.

In past seasons, fans accused Hulu of exploiting Paul’s trauma for entertainment, passing her toxic on-again-off-again relationship with Mortensen off as silly reality TV drama. This season however, Hulu ultimately made the right decision to pause production when things took a turn for the worse.

Following the harrowing introduction, the season rewinds to five weeks earlier, with Paul coming home from “The Bachelorette” with a ring from contestant Doug Mason. Despite being engaged, she sleeps with her complicated romantic partner Mortensen. She also confesses to being in love with a previous fling, Ben Lambert.

Paul’s friends call her out on cheating, urging her to tell Mason the truth and break off things with Mortensen for good. Paul admits she doesn’t think Mason truly loved her and proposed just to give the show a happy ending. Paul’s friends and mother urge her to be single for a while and learn to love herself instead of seeking validation from men.

One of the most exciting parts was MomTok going to New York City to see their friend Whitney Leavitt make her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the historic stage production “Chicago.” Leavitt was a villain in the early seasons and is now a fan favorite. She has made amends with all of her friends, save for Jen Affleck, her rival on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Paul sneaks Lambert into her penthouse in New York City, pretending he’s her brother, because contract with Bachelor Nation prohibits her from publicly dating anyone until May. She ditches her friends multiple times to be with him, only to break up with him at the end of the trip.

Season 5 begins with multiple plotlines that don’t get resolved because of the early cancellation. Layla Taylor’s breakup with Mason McWhorter sparks a wave of drama, as well as Jessi Draper’s tumultuous marriage with her husband, Jordan Ngatikaura. The couple announced their divorce soon after the production pause, but it was never shown on screen.

My personal favorite parts of the season were Leavitt living her dreams on Broadway and Mayci Neeley and Mikayla Matthews calling out McWhorter for being a jerk to Taylor, taking back a Cartier ring that Taylor bought for him. The ring was estimated to be worth upwards of $2,000.

As usual, this season was mostly Paul and Mortensen, leaving audiences frustrated and annoyed. After a big argument between the girls, Paul breaks down about Mortensen once again but decides it’s finally time to call it quits with him. “The Bachelor” will be aired soon, and Paul swears to focus on healing herself.

A few days later, Mortensen has a friend call Child Protective Services (CPS), claiming that he and Paul got into a fight on the highway. Mortensen accuses Paul of turning around and screaming in their son’s face, and then punching herself to make it look like Mortensen punched her. Paul admits that the two got into a fight, but says that their son wasn’t even in the car, and that there’s video proof. Mortensen’s friend tells CPS that Paul abused their son, leading to an investigation.

Paul was charged with aggravated assault in 2023 for drunkenly throwing a chair at Mortensen during a fight. Mortensen also claimed Paul hit her daughter with a chair when aiming for him.

Soon after Mortensen accused her of domestic violence this year, he released a video of that alteration. Paul is shown throwing a metal stool at him, but she accused him of slamming her head into the dashboard of his truck earlier in the fight.

This raises serious questions about just how bad Mortensen and Paul’s relationship was when cameras weren’t rolling. Fans suspect that he called CPS to sabotage her season of “The Bachelorette,” which was canceled soon after.

On Aug. 7, a judge signed a mutual protective order, requiring Mortensen and Paul to stay 100 feet apart at all times.

The show itself doesn’t excuse Paul’s behavior towards Mortensen or her friends but leaves it open ended. Paul and Mortensen both carry blame, but her friends and fans all have varying opinions on who is the true instigator.

The women of MomTok and their viewers all come to the conclusion that they just hope Paul’s children are safe.

The important thing is that Hulu is taking domestic violence seriously. Canceling half a season is not good for viewership, but for once, a cast’s safety was prioritized over views. Sometimes, we forget that reality stars are real people with real problems, and they need time off camera to sort them out.