Dakota Mortensen, who left the Hulu reality series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” in April, has sued the show’s producers and the streamer. He alleges they staged scenes and cut footage to cast him as an abuser and a serial cheater.The defamation complaint, which Salt Lake City station ABC4 obtained, names Hulu, Jeff Jenkins Productions and Ludwig Productions. It seeks unspecified damages above $300,000. Mortensen says the portrayal cost him business deals and caused emotional distress and humiliation, according to court papers TMZ reported.
The suit targets seasons three through five. Mortensen contends those episodes showed millions of viewers a domestic abuser, a father who retaliated against his child’s mother by calling child protective services, and a repeat adulterer. He denies making the call. He says producers aired the storyline after he and others told them the allegations were false.
He also accuses the production of withholding the only footage of physical aggression between him and Taylor Frankie Paul, his ex-girlfriend and co-star. The filing says Paul directed that aggression at him, and it describes the storyline as assembled from staged events and “deliberate deletion of footage” that contradicted it. Other accounts of the complaint say the unaired material shows Paul striking him with a pizza box. Hulu and the production companies did not respond to requests for comment. A public response from Paul has not surfaced.
The filing adds to a legal fight that has run most of the year. Video of a 2023 domestic violence incident, for which Paul was arrested, resurfaced in March. ABC shelved her season of “The Bachelorette” days before its premiere, and “Mormon Wives” halted production while Utah police investigated. In April, the Salt Lake County district attorney declined to charge Paul, finding some incidents fell short of criminal offenses and others lacked corroboration. Filming on season five resumed a week later.
A Utah judge granted both sides three-year protective orders. At an April hearing, castmate Jessi Draper testified that Mortensen told her of a plan to leak videos of Paul to TMZ. Judge Minas called the relationship “very toxic” and doubted Mortensen acted solely to protect their son. The custody dispute over the boy, Ever, continues. Mortensen’s suit is the second defamation action against the production company this year. Marciano Brunette sued castmate Demi Engemann and Jeff Jenkins Productions over sexual assault claims aired in season three.
