Julie Theis continues to stick up for Taylor Frankie Paul!
Earlier this month, Dakota Mortensen‘s roommate Cru Eaton posted a vulnerable video on TikTok of a “freshly postpartum” Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star breaking down in tears as she begged her baby daddy to stop filming her during one of their fights. Taylor slammed her ex’s “cruel” pal and even went as far as to file for a restraining order against him for stalking and harassing her, which a judge granted.
Related: Taylor Frankie Paul Breaks Silence After DCFS Claims Kids Are ‘Abused’
But before that, the reality star got support from Julie, Cru’s ex-girlfriend. The content creator took to social media to call out her ex-boyfriend’s alleged “obsession” with Taylor and an “absolute hatred of women.” If you haven’t seen the video yet, watch it (below):
Julie isn’t done, though! She has more to say about Cru and Dakota while defending Taylor! Speaking to Us Weekly on Tuesday, the YouTuber, who has a master’s degree in psychology, shared that she met Cru while filming the reality dating show Secrets & Soulmates in 2025. They began dating, and she moved to Utah to give their relationship a shot. For two months, Julie spent a lot of time with Cru’s roommate Dakota, as well as MomTok, while Taylor was away filming her now-cancelled season of The Bachelorette.
During that time, Cru and Dakota allegedly talked a lot of s**t about TFP. Julie recalled:
“What I had heard from them, it was all negative. It was very much like, ‘Taylor abuses Dakota. Taylor has been violent towards Dakota.'”
And naturally, Julie believed them in the beginning:
“I definitely felt empathy towards Dakota. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a man who wants his family together and is maybe struggling with some of his demons, but overall wants to be with her.'”
Julie didn’t know Taylor personally back then and only heard Dakota’s side of the story, but she still questioned the Unwell Winter Games star:
“I would ask questions like, ‘Were you ever abusive towards her?’ And I was told, ‘No.'”
Taylor would say otherwise. However, Julie said she was told over and over that the social media star is “the problem,” and if she changed, things would’ve worked out between her and Dakota:
“They’d just be like, ‘You know she’s crazy. She just gets that way. That’s just how she is.'”
But Julie’s opinion about Taylor changed after her breakup with Cru. It all went down when the MomTok star reached out to Julie after learning she had dated Cru and wanted to know more about the person living with her 2-year-old son Ever. They soon started to have a heart-to-heart, where Julie opened up about her own toxic relationship with Cru.
Throughout the conversation, Julie said she heard Taylor checking on her kids in the background — which she feels is different from how she has been painted amid her contentious custody battle. And according to Julie, Taylor didn’t say anything massive to make her change her perspective on the situation. It was hearing the Hulu personality’s side of the story, along with her own experiences with Cru, that caused the switch:
“I apologized to her right away. Obviously, all I had heard about [her] was negative things. I believe her. I saw myself in her. I saw every woman who’s been through a toxic, abusive relationship in her.”
Julie is now on Taylor’s side. And despite what some may think, she insisted the former soft-swinger didn’t try once to persuade her:
“I was listening for signs of, ‘Am I being manipulated the other way?’ But she didn’t do that.”
In fact, Julie shared that Taylor admitted to her own flaws:
“She wasn’t trying to be like, ‘Let me tell you what a monster he was.’ I still heard her take accountability. She was like, ‘I’m not perfect. There’s things I wish I would’ve done.'”
Ultimately, the conversation led Julie to reconsider everything she ever heard about Taylor and Dakota’s relationship, and she came down to one conclusion: they had “a toxic trauma bond.” She won’t get into specifics about what she heard about their romance and believes Taylor should share it herself one day, but that is the opinion she landed on:
“They are both coming from their own wounds, and they came together unhealed. But I think Taylor has reacted, and she knows that. She hasn’t always made the right choices. But I think her breaking point has come from coercive control and being beat down. I think what people need to understand about abusive relationships is you come out of that and you’re like, ‘I don’t even recognize who I am.'”
As you know, Taylor and Dakota have been in a very contentious legal battle over domestic violence allegations, child abuse accusations, and child custody for months now. Both are not allowed to speak disparagingly about each other online, but Cru has taken it upon himself to slam Taylor publicly, including by publishing private videos, texts, and more online. And Julie, unfortunately, knows first-hand about Cru’s obsessive behavior:
“I posted a video [on my Instagram] after Cru started going after Taylor because I feel like what I experienced with Cru is the same pattern that I’m seeing in what he’s doing with Taylor. It’s this obsession with her. I am so glad Taylor got the restraining order against Cru. I think it shows because he’s harassing her. This is so far beyond, ‘I have an opinion on Taylor Frankie Paul.’ His bio was Taylor. Videos on videos on Taylor. He has zero personality on social media besides Taylor.”
As for the information surfacing amid the legal battle? Julie doesn’t “know who released it, but it’s like she can’t catch a break.” At one point, she claimed she actually asked Dakota if he ever planned to release the video of Taylor throwing the barstool at her daughter that led to her 2023 arrest, along with other messages and clips from their relationship. And his response? Julie alleged:
“I flat out asked [Dakota], ‘Do you plan on releasing these because you’re keeping them?’ And he said, ‘No, I would never do that because I’m protecting Taylor. I love her. I still want to be with her.'”
Hmm… Well, Taylor thinks Dakota is to blame! Julie even raises her eyebrows at the situation because she knows the recordings existed on his phone, so she doesn’t know how else Cru would’ve gotten them:
“I know Cru never had the videos at that time. I don’t know who did that. It’s hard for me to say, but I think there’s a possibility that there is a bigger plan.”
Who knows…
Regardless, Julie just wants the public to start taking this situation more seriously:
“There was a part of me where I thought, ‘How can I stay silent? How can I not protect this woman who I do believe is a victim in this?’ I think we need to switch this from being messy internet tea and gossip and really look at this like, ‘This is a really dark situation.’ Toxic people rely on your silence. I felt responsible. I couldn’t stay silent anymore.”
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below)!
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Julie Theis/Dakota Mortensen/Taylor Frankie Paul/Instagram]