AceShowbiz - Charity Lawson, known from The Bachelorette Season 20, recently addressed the importance of maintaining mental health amid reality TV controversies. Her remarks came in response to the unfolding drama involving fellow reality personality Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, with whom she shares a child. This situation has attracted significant attention just days before the new season of ABC’s The Bachelorette began filming.

Charity Lawson found love during her season of The Bachelorette and emphasized that contestants should enter such shows with a stable mental health foundation. In a TikTok video posted on Monday, she clarified that her comments were intended as a public service announcement rather than criticism. Still, many viewers connected her message to the recent headline-grabbing behavior of Taylor Frankie Paul, star of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

“Dating shows are not for you to come on and find your healing,” Lawson stated. She noted that while this may seem like common sense, society often normalizes the spectacle of chaos and confusion, either by enjoying or mocking it. “We as a society have really normalized enjoying / ridiculing chaos and confusion,” she added.

Though Lawson did not directly name Paul, she alluded to the tumultuous events seen on the fourth season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. That season featured Paul reigniting her relationship with Mortensen just days after publicly ending it at the previous season’s reunion. Notably, the reality personality was reported to have spent the night with her ex before departing to film her season of The Bachelorette in Los Angeles.

Lawson further commented on recurring behavioral patterns, stating, “Patterns and repetitive behaviors are not off days. That is a core issue of a person, and change for that does not happen overnight, or over the course essentially of a few months.” Her message highlighted the complexity of personal change and recovery.

Production of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 5 has reportedly been paused due to an ongoing domestic violence investigation involving both Paul and Mortensen. Allegations include domestic violence incidents witnessed by their shared one-year-old child. According to a report from People, other members of the MomTok community are distancing themselves from Paul as the investigation continues.

In addition to her TikTok remarks, Lawson appeared on the ABC special Before the First Rose, which aired Sunday night. The program reunited various The Bachelorette leads who shared advice for Paul, who notably never competed on The Bachelor herself. Reflecting on her own experience, Lawson said, “I genuinely believed that what I put into that experience I was going to get out of it. And news flash, for those that are new here, I did get engaged on my season, and I’m still with my final choice.”

Concluding her thoughts, Lawson expressed her discomfort with watching people self-destruct on television or being publicly ridiculed for it. “The mental health of contestants should never be compromised so severely for ratings,” she said. “People genuinely need help and we are witnessing that live.”

Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette is scheduled to premiere on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT, with new episodes available for streaming the next day on Hulu and Disney+.