The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

There Is a Reason Why Taboos Exist

Posted on | March 20, 2026 | No Comments

A ‘celebrity,’ by 21st-century standards

You are an intelligent, responsible adult, which is why you’ve never heard of Taylor Frankie Paul. Until Thursday, I hadn’t heard of her either because — as an intelligent, responsible adult — I pay zero attention to “reality TV.” But before getting to her recent failed attempt to break out from that entertainment ghetto, let’s start at the beginning: By 2022, when she was 28, Taylor Frankie Paul had accumulated a massive following on TikTok. She was a married mother of three, and a lot of her content featured her and her husband, Tate Paul, doing silly stunts, sometimes with their two young children. Then in mid-2022, Taylor “went viral” with a video announcing that she would be getting divorced. Her “life was falling apart,” she said and then she dropped the bomb: The breakup was because she and her husband (and many of their friends in their Utah community, allegedly) were involved in “swinging.”

Don’t know who needs to hear this, but . . . BAD IDEA!

Because I am someone who can be trusted to keep a secret, I can’t tell you the stories about people I know who tried the so-called “polyamorous” lifestyle and thereby wrecked their lives, but I assure you that I have never once heard of anything good resulting from aforesaid lifestyle.

In general, every type of kinky behavior that could be characterized as sexual fantasy is a bad idea. We see people destroy their lives this way quite frequently, as for example, the tragic saga of Fred “Bubba” Copeland a/k/a “Brittni Summerlin.” Disapproval of such behavior is sometimes referred to as a “taboo,” which has overtones of superstition, as if the forbidden nature of certain sexual practices is the result of irrational prejudice. But if you study the situation with an eye to long-term happiness, these taboos are entirely rational.

Suppose that you’re a guy bored with marital monogamy, and your particular fantasy is a ménage à trois. So there’s a reasonably attractive and friendly young woman who lives in your trailer park, and you spring the idea on your wife: Y’all get together for some fun, just to “spice thing up” a bit. Congratulations — your wife is agreeable, so you do the threesome, and it’s so awesome that you begin doing it regularly. You, your wife and the good-looking trailer park neighbor, having a great time. And then one day, you get off work early and show up at your trailer to discover that your wife and the good-looking neighbor lady have decided they like the twosome better than the threesome, and your involvement is no longer necessary to the fun. You’re going to lose everything, including your trailer, because your soon-to-be-ex-wife is now a full-blown lesbian. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a true story, which I can share without violating my code because I did not personally know the people involved and heard this tale second-hand from a trusted source.

Whenever I tell that story, the listener will invariably tell me a very similar story involving people of their acquaintance. There are enough people out there doing stuff like this that the pattern becomes familiar to anyone who pays attention. When the “fantasy” comes true in real life, it’s never going to lead to a good place, which brings us back to the story of Taylor Frankie Paul, the TikTok star whose marriage got wrecked because of the “swinger” lifestyle. Her husband moved out and moved on with his life, but Taylor’s viral fame attracted the interest of Jeff Jenkins, an experienced reality-show producer who had worked on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and its various spinoffs. The result was a Hulu series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which made its debut in September 2024, and has been continued through a total of 40 episodes.

Knocked up: Dakota Mortensen and Taylor Frankie Paul in 2024.

Taylor and her circle of friends star in the show, with the usual “reality TV” drama, some of which is actually real. In the first season, Taylor learned that she was pregnant by her new boyfriend, a guy named Dakota Mortensen. The couple had a baby boy together, but they broke up in the second season. Season Three dropped late last year, and earlier this month the fourth season made its debut. Meanwhile, in September last year, ABC announced that Taylor Frankie Paul would star in the next season of The Bachelorette. Because you are an intelligent, responsible adult, you have never watched The Bachelorette. It’s a long-running spinoff of The Bachelor, which made a ratings splash when it debuted in 2002, with one guy choosing his prospective bride from a group of female contestants. The Bachelorette, which premiered in 2003, just reversed that format, with a group of guys vying to be chosen by a woman.

Who watches this garbage? Not me and not you, as we are intelligent, responsible adults, but many millions of viewers tune in habitually for The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which is why this garbage has been on TV for more than 20 years. This same audience of tasteless dimwits, of course, are also the target audience for “reality” shows like The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, so it made perfect sense — from a marketing standpoint — for ABC to make Taylor Frankie Paul the star of the new season of The Bachelorette. From other perspectives, however, this choice made no sense at all. Like, how is this woman a “catch”?

Let’s not critique her looks, OK? But aside from her appearance — certainly no better than 6/10 — here is a 31-year-old single mother of three, and yet ABC expected their audience to buy into the idea that men were literally lining up to compete for the chance to make her their bride?

Is the dating scene for guys really that bad nowadays? Even if you presume your audience to be a bunch of dimwits (a safe assumption for “reality TV,” to be honest), this premise strains credulity. And yet ABC invested millions of dollars in this, the 22nd season of The Bachelorette, starring the rode-hard-and-put-up-wet Taylor Frankie Paul.

The red flags were ignored until disaster struck this week:

Taylor Frankie Paul repeatedly attacked Dakota Mortensen during the 2023 incident in which she pled guilty to aggravated assault, and the video shows that one of her children was struck during the fight.
TMZ has obtained the video — a copy of which was evidence in the case — and it’s hard to watch. Dakota struggles to record the altercation with his cellphone as Taylor puts him in a headlock. She backs off … but then charges and tries to kick him.
The struggle turns violent as Taylor grabs a metal barstool and hurls it at Dakota. He screams at her — “your daughter is sitting right there” — but she persists, throwing 2 more stools at him. At that moment, you hear her child, who was curled up on the couch, begin crying.
The police report says the 5-year-old girl was hit and later had a “goose egg on her head.”
Police arrived on the scene that night after a neighbor called to complain about the noise, and in the video you hear the officer trying to separate them.

So, not only is she a 31-year-old single mom, but she’s also a dangerously violent lunatic. That was enough for ABC to cancel the whole season:

ABC has canceled Season 22 of The Bachelorette after a 2023 video of Taylor Frankie Paul — who was set to lead the new season — fighting her ex-boyfriend went viral.
The entire upcoming season of The Bachelorette was canceled on Thursday, just three days before it was set to premiere. . . .
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson told People. . . .
Recently, a source told People that filming has apparently been halted for Season 5 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives due to “some pretty serious stuff happening regarding [Paul’s] past.”
A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department, meanwhile, told the magazine that there is an open “domestic assault investigation” involving Paul and Mortensen.

Wow! In addition cancellating an entire season of The Bachelorette, it now appears the future of Taylor’s franchise The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives may be in jeopardy. And the tea keeps spilling.

Because you are an intelligent and responsible adult, you will probably not be surprised to learn that the court has ordered Taylor Frankie Paul to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. What do you suppose this evaluation will reveal? That she is deranged and demented? Unhinged, wacko, daffy, non compos mentis and off her rocker? Nuttier than a Snickers bar, a few fries short of a Happy Meal and cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?

Does it seem to you in hindsight that maybe there was some clue that this woman was in need of a straitjacket and a padded cell? Perhaps the fact that she wrecked her marriage because of the “swinger” lifestyle?

If only someone had warned them that Crazy People Are Dangerous.



 

Category: Celebrities, Scandal, Sex

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