Former Bachelorette Deanna Pappas got emotional about the aftermath of Taylor Frankie Paul‘s alleged domestic dispute with Dakota Mortensen playing out in the public eye.
“I’m so sad for this girl and her child, and him too,” Deanna, 44, said on the Wednesday, March 18, episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast. “There’s the connection because of The Bachelorette, but it’s just really sad.”
Deanna empathized with Taylor, 31, for having to defend herself in the days leading up to The Bachelorette season 22.
“It doesn’t feel good the way they’re making this woman the lead of a show and making her live through it over and over and over again,” she noted. “One of the clips that we just saw of her online, she sounds broken.”
As Taylor gears up to headline her season of The Bachelorette, news broke on Monday, March 16, that her show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives halted production on season 5 after Taylor and Dakota, 32, were involved in an alleged domestic violence dispute. A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department confirmed that there is an open “domestic assault investigation” involving the pair, noting that allegations were “made in both directions.”
The reality star attended an event in New York City on Tuesday, March 17, where she broke her silence on the situation in an interview with Us Weekly.
“There’s more to the context to everything and it’s unfortunate,” Taylor exclusively told Us. “It’s been hard. And it sucks to be in this position. And the mother that I am, that is something I will always stand my ground on. I believe that I am a good mother and I have always treated my kids very well.”
She continued: “The headlines that are out right now are very hard to see because that’s not the truth of it. I have always treated my children with respect and I’ve never touched them. So it’s been really hard.”
Taylor noted that it was “unfortunate” to see the news make headlines ahead of her Bachelorette premiere, adding, “It’s another premiere that’s been taken away from me. I’ve never enjoyed a premiere for any one of my shows. So it’s just been very sad.”
Deanna — who was the lead on season 4 of The Bachelorette — called Taylor’s decision to publicly face the aftermath “devastating.”
“She went to an event and she showed face because she is trying to promote a show that she has done and she sounds broken,” she continued on Wednesday. “I almost cried listening to it because you can hear the pain in her voice when she is speaking that it took all she had to get there that night.”
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