Taylor Frankie Paul Shares Where She & Demi Stand After Mormon Wives S2

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 2 saw one surprising fall from grace, and Taylor Frankie Paul has thoughts on how it all played out. Demi Engemann was a self-proclaimed “fan favorite” when the show first premiered, but her friendship with Paul became a source of tension among the group (and sparked lots of opinions from viewers). As the season progressed, Engemann encouraged her friends to kick Paul out of MomTok — at one point, calling her “disgusting” and a “narcissist.” She also gave the rest of the group an ultimatum: either force Paul out, or Engemann walks. The group largely stuck with Paul.

Despite the harsh words, Paul says she’s willing to give Engemann “grace.” And for fans paying attention to MomTok’s social media interactions since filming wrapped, Engemann has seemingly been welcomed back into the fold. (She and ex-bestie Jessi Ngatikaura have re-followed each other, and Engemann has been leaving supportive comments on Paul’s TikToks.) According to Paul, their friendship has improved since filming Season 2 last fall — but it’s still not perfect.

“We still have to work together every day, so we can either have this negative energy or have somewhat of a cordial relationship,” she says. “Is everything great now? No, honestly. But it’s not bad, either.”

Paul understands why fans might be surprised by this. “For everyone who is just watching the show, it's very fresh. But as time goes on, emotions do fade. We’re not in the heat of the moment anymore,” she says. “At the end of the day, we are co-workers, and I have to see all of them at press.”

Here, Paul shares her thoughts on some of Engemann’s most controversial moments, on and off the screen.

She Relates To The “Mind F” Of Getting A Villain Label

As someone who has faced public ridicule before (viewers saw her get arrested in Season 1), Paul has some sympathy for Engemann. “Demi had the most surprising arc in Season 2, for sure: from ‘It's no secret that I'm a fan favorite’ to being the villain,” she says. “I know that's been hard for her. I've been there, and it messes with you. It's almost like a mind F, right?”

“Demi is also watching the show right now, so I think she's probably realizing, ‘Whoa. I did come off harsh,’” Paul says. “I’ve been in a similar spot of thinking, ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ So I give people grace. Just like Whitney, Demi will have her turn to come back and hopefully be better. We all get a turn in that seat.”

The Christmas Party Episode Was “Hard To Watch”

Paul was not there for one of Engemann’s most unpopular Season 2 moments. After she was uninvited from Engemann’s Christmas party in Episode 10, Paul’s mother stopped by instead to defend her daughter. Engemann did not appreciate the gesture and yelled at Paul’s mom, while the rest of MomTok watched.

“I didn't know how my mom was treated in the Christmas party scene, and that was really hard to watch,” Paul says. “Demi eventually had sent a text to my mom saying, ‘I am so sorry I came off that hard on you.’ Everyone's emotions were really heightened at the time.”

Afterward, Paul thanked Engemann for the apology. “My mom told me that she apologized, so when I saw Demi in person, I said, ‘Thank you. I appreciate you doing that for my mom. It means a lot that you even tried,’” she says. “When someone's trying to say sorry, what can you do? Obviously they're doing the right thing, so I appreciated it.”

Demi Pitching A Fake Affair With Dakota Was “Odd”

On the Viall Files podcast on May 20, Mikayla Matthews and Ngatikaura revealed that Engemann had pitched a fake storyline for herself: an affair with Dakota Mortensen, the father of Paul’s baby. “This is obviously upsetting people because it sounds like we were sitting there, plotting ideas of what we could make up,” Paul says about the reveal. “The conversation was more like, ‘What’s going on in our lives that we could use? What’s something real that we can allude to that people will want to know more about?’”

According to Paul, the fake affair always struck her as a bizarre idea. “I was actually there when she brought it up. I thought it was really odd. Why would she want that for her image? And also, why him? It was really uncomfortable for me,” she says. “To this day, I still think that is an odd thing to come out of nowhere with.”

Paul was not alone in that feeling. “All of the MomTok girls agreed with me that it was far-fetched,” she says. “Now people think we're sitting here making up storylines that aren't real. That's just not the case. It’s not scripted.”