Summary:
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ABC’s next Bachelorette is Taylor Frankie Paul, breaking tradition by casting someone outside the Bachelor franchise.
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Paul, a TikTok powerhouse and reality TV star, will lead season 22 of The Bachelorette, facing challenges of co-parenting.
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Her personal life, including a swinging scandal and subsequent breakup, has been central to her reality career.
ABC is breaking from tradition with its next Bachelorette.
Taylor Frankie Paul, known for her role on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and her viral presence in the #MomTok community, has been tapped to lead season 22 of The Bachelorette. The announcement came on Wednesday during her appearance on Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper.
“It has not hit me right now in this moment,” Paul said on the podcast. “I’m just thinking about it, and it’s not real. And it’s not going to be until I think the limo is pulling up, you know? And meeting the people.”
The Bachelor franchise has historically drawn its stars from within, selecting Bachelorettes who previously competed on The Bachelor.
Having Taylor Frankie Paul from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives as the next Bachelorette is quite possibly one of the smartest moves in the reality television space that I’ve seen in years! pic.twitter.com/M8HOzzq0Vt
— Kriti Gupta (@kritig96) September 10, 2025
ABC acknowledged the significance of the casting decision in a press release, describing Paul as a “TikTok powerhouse whose comedic, heartwarming, and bitingly honest content has earned her a massive following.”
Paul addressed the challenges of filming while co-parenting. “I’m a co-parent, I have two baby daddies, not one, so I’m dealing with two different people, my children, my home base is here,” she said on Call Her Daddy. “Can I travel that long? Can I be gone that long? … I was like, I can. If you want to, you can. And it comes down to that, so I was just like, I will make it work.”
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Her personal life has been a central storyline in her reality career. After divorcing Tate Paul in 2022 and making headlines for the swinging scandal, she starred in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which chronicled her breakup and subsequent pregnancy with then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. The couple has since split.
Season 22 of The Bachelorette will premiere in 2026. Meanwhile, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returns for its third season on November 13, 2025.
Paul has openly reflected on her past choices, telling Hulu cameras she regrets opening her marriage. “I would have never opened my relationship and my marriage. I feel like that was a disaster waiting to happen,” she said. “I think announcing it to the world, I wish that hadn’t had to happen as well, but also it got us where we are today.”
