Taylor Frankie Paul Just Revealed Whether Her Bachelorette Contestants ‘Have to Be Mormon’
Jason Pham
She’s a self-identified “sinner,” but is Taylor Frankie Paul still Mormon and, more importantly, will her Bachelorette contestants be Mormon too?
Taylor, a cast member on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, was announced as the Season 22 Bachelorette on Alex Cooper’s podcast, “Call Her Daddy, “on September 10, 2025. The announcement made Taylor the first Bachelorette in Bachelor Nation history to not come from a past season of The Bachelor. The announcement also came after The Bachelorette took a one-year hiatus following Season 21 with Jenn Tran in 2024.
Related: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast’s net worths
“This is something so new for me because obviously I got married young, divorced and then the first guy I met was the next relationship,” Taylor said on the podcast. “So I have not done the whole meeting new people out, like dating at the same time … I’ve never done that, so that will be new to me.”
Is Taylor Frankie Paul still Mormon?
Taylor confirmed she was still Mormon and an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in an interview with The Salt Lake City Tribune in 2024. “I do,” Taylor said at the time when asked if she identified as a Latter-day Saint. “I go to church, and my son is going to be blessed here soon. It’s really nobody’s place to tell me that I can’t go to church because I sin. It’s something between the church and me. And it hasn’t come to me, so I’m going to keep going to church until it says otherwise.”
Taylor explained that, while still identified as Mormon, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives wasn’t meant to represent all members of the religion. “Maybe people who do live very by the book don’t want us to be depicted as representing them. We’re not,” she said. She added later in the interview, “These are our stories, and we’re still Mormon, whether you like it or not.”
Taylor also clarified what differentiated her from other Mormons. “A man is not going to tell me what to do, what to wear or what to say,” she said. “And in our religion, it’s true men hold the priesthood. I feel like it is evolving and changing a little bit more, and that’s part of what we’re trying to show in this series.”
While she still identifies as Mormon, Taylor told Us Weekly after her Bachelorette announcement that she was open to meeting contestants who were not from the same religion as her. “What I’m most looking forward to is meeting a handful of people that are outside my bubble — and even if there’s a couple in there, that’s OK — but I’m just excited to get to know different perspectives and new parts about myself too,” she said. “[But] it’s out of my comfort zone, so, obviously, it’s scary. You’re dealing with feelings — and you’re dealing with other people’s feelings — and I don’t really like to hurt other people’s feelings, especially when you’re being vulnerable and open.”
While she doesn’t need her contestants to be Mormon, Taylor did confirm that she wants them to be religious in some way.
“No, they don’t have to be Mormon is the easy answer,” she said. “I would love to talk to anyone on the subject, and definitely the very last people. I’m open to any religion. It doesn’t have to be Mormonism, but I would like to align, obviously, with the same values and morals, and at least someone that does believe in faith and God and whatnot. When you’re raising kids, it does become a factor. I don’t know if it’s a hard thing, because I’m also very open minded, and I want to hear other people’s perspectives, but when it comes down to raising kids, I think that’s where it gets more important — what we are going to teach them, what we believe in.”
She also revealed that the “goal” is to leave The Bachelorette engaged. “Definitely, that’s the goal here,” she said. “And as my mom likes to say, I do fall in love quickly, and that’s also the reason I did it. I always call myself a lover girl because I, like, fall for people and I have done that in the past. Obviously, I got married young, and the first guy I dated was my second baby daddy — so it was just very quick, and this time, it’s going to be really cool, because, yes, I have been opening up to dating, but now I’m about to date, you know, 20 [or] 30 guys, and I’ve never done that before. I’m going to take my time, I’m going to kind of, like, get to know people. Maybe I learned things I didn’t like or do like that I didn’t even know. So I think this is gonna be really good for the long-term effect.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives streams on Hulu.
