'Mormon Wives' Jessi Draper Pulls Total 180 After Trashing Taylor Frankie Paul in Leaked Audio

Published May 1, 2026 8:49 AM PDT | Updated May 1, 2026 9:27 AM PDT

Jessi Draper has clearly changed her mind when it comes to Taylor Frankie Paul ... because she bashed her costar in a voice memo to Dakota Mortensen just two months ago -- but now she's providing a full-throated defense of Taylor instead.

Here's the deal ... we've obtained the voice memo Jessi sent to Dakota on March 5 ... in the wake of production pausing on 'SLOMW' over a new bout of domestic violence allegations involving Taylor and Dakota.

In the message, Jessi tells Dakota the cast is aligned in holding back on any public support for Taylor ... she says they know the "truth" about Taylor ... and she claims production and management on 'SLOMW' is gaslighting the cast by painting Taylor as a victim and Dakota as a liar.

Jessi says the show's cast views the situation between Taylor and Dakota as not only serious, but also dangerous ... particularly when it comes to Taylor and Dakota's kids ... and Jessi says the group feels a lack of accountability from Taylor would be harmful.

What's more, Jessi suggests it might help things if the cast members were able to see videos of Taylor being violent ... and she singles out Mikayla Matthews as being "the most vocal" about wanting to see footage.

Unclear if the cast ever saw footage related to the 2026 domestic violence claims ... but a couple weeks after Jessi sent the message to Dakota, TMZ obtained and published video of Taylor's brutal 2023 attack on Dakota ... which led to Taylor's 'Bachelorette' season getting shelved.

Jessi ends her message expressing sympathy for both Taylor and Dakota ... lamenting, "no one wins."

Jessi has since done an about-face ... as we told you, Jessi is now helping Taylor in her restraining order battle against Dakota -- filing a declaration on her behalf.

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During the hearing Thursday, Taylor's lawyer mentioned a conversation Jessi walked in on ... where she found Dakota and his roommate, Cru Ethan, kicking around a plan to release the infamous video of Taylor throwing a barstool at Dakota.

What's more ... Draper somehow learned we planned to publish the audio -- and has now hopped online to explain the voice memo. She says she was in a relationship with an abusive partner -- Jordan Ngatikaura -- who was best friends with Dakota, and she always felt pressured to take Dakota's side over Taylor's.

She says she doesn't remember what she said in the audio ... but it doesn't reflect how she feels about Taylor now -- adding the two have become best friends in recent months.

Jessi adds Season 5 of 'SLOMW' provides a ton of necessary context to explain how everyone was feeling when she sent the voice memo ... but, obviously, fans won't hear that side of the story until the next season drops.

Bottom line ... Jessi says she's felt the way she did at the time -- but, now she's a Team Taylor ride or die.