Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelorette season may never see the light of day. But The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 5 (streaming now) is giving viewers a look at what happened during and after her journey for love.
In the new season — which takes place after The Bachelorette was filmed and before its canceled premiere — Taylor admits to her #MomTok friends that she slept with her ex and co-parent Dakota Mortensen shortly after getting home, even though she was newly engaged to Doug Mason on the reality TV dating show.
As for her future with Doug, Taylor told the camera: “I don’t know. I still am thinking about him, but he’s been very distant — so I don’t even really want to tell Doug. But I know that I have to. However, there’s a lot of other things on my mind.”
Indeed, Taylor soon dropped another bombshell. “I’m in love with someone else,” she told her friends, confirming Macyi Neeley’s guess that it was Ben Lambert.
To briefly recap, Taylor had spent some time with Ben before leaving for The Bachelorette, as seen in Mormon Wives Season 4. The musician reached out after Taylor got home from filming, and they spoke for six hours, Taylor told her friends.
While they knew they couldn’t date publicly until after Taylor’s season had aired in full — to avoid giving away spoilers — they took a low-key trip to New York during Whitney Leavitt’s Chicago debut. “We both want a stable, long-term relationship, and we’re just trying to figure out if we’re compatible for that,” Ben told Taylor’s inquisitive pals.
It seemed Taylor was, in fact, envisioning a future with Ben. “I can’t wait to actually do this stuff normally with you, you know? Like where you can come with me,” she said while preparing for a night out. “Like, some of the guys are going tonight with their wives and stuff, or their girlfriends. That’d be nice.”
At one point, the pair even talked about raising their hypothetical family. “I could see you being my girlfriend eventually, and more than that one day,” Ben said. “That’s what I want.”
However, Taylor said in a confessional that things were moving quickly — and that she was “sabotaging it all” because she wasn’t “completely healed.”
The pair agreed that while their connection worked in private, it wasn’t the same as dating in real life. “If you were to come be my actual boyfriend in town, that’s something I don’t know if I could keep up with,” Taylor said. “And that’s not saying I don’t want it, or I’m not in the same place as you. It’s more of, I’m just being realistic with myself.”
Taylor and Ben ultimately parted ways, with Taylor later telling her mom: “He wants to date. He wants to be exclusive — I don’t. I’m too busy right now.”
As seen in the Season 5 finale, Taylor also attempted to finally end her on-and-off dynamic with Dakota, texting him that it was “over for me in every department” except for co-parenting. Shortly after, production on Mormon Wives was paused as Taylor and Dakota navigated a contentious legal battle.
