ABC has scrubbed the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette,” starring Taylor Frankie Paul, citing a newly released video from 2023.

Thursday’s unprecedented cancellation of the already filmed season of the long-running reality television show comes days before it was to premiere, on Sunday. 

“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News.

The statement appeared to reference a 2023 video of an altercation between Paul and her ex-partner, Dakota Mortensen, that was published by TMZ on Thursday. Paul was arrested in 2023 and charged with aggravated assault and other offenses, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. She pleaded guilty that August to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated assault; the other charges were dismissed.

A police spokesperson in Draper City, Utah, told People magazine that there was an open “domestic assault investigation” of Paul and Mortensen, and that “allegations have been made in both directions.” The Draper City Police Department confirmed to CBS News on Thursday evening the accuracy of People’s report. Mortensen is the father of one of Paul’s three children.  

Representatives for Paul and Mortensen didn’t immediately return requests for comment. ABC’s statement didn’t include details on what the network planned to do with the show’s time slot.

Paul, who was promoting Season 22 as recently as Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and on the red carpet before Sunday’s Oscars telecast, was an unusual choice to helm “The Bachelorette.” Unlike previous leads, the 31-year-old had not appeared on the “Bachelor” franchise before — a departure from the typical practice of casting runners-up from previous seasons.

Her selection did offer synergy, though, as she also stars on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a Hulu reality show. Both Hulu and ABC are owned by Disney. In a statement confirming her casting in October, ABC credited Paul with “igniting ‘MomTok’ and going viral for pulling back the curtain on Salt Lake’s soft-swinging scene.” 

Paul became known as an influencer in the #MomTok community, a group of women from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sharing their lives on TikTok. She made news when she announced in 2022 that she had “stepped out” of an agreement with her husband in terms of relationships with other couples, and they were getting divorced.

“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” premiered in 2024. While Season 4 was released last week, filming on Season 5 had already paused over the investigation. 

“It was a decision that all of us girls came up with,” Paul’s co-star Mikayla Matthews said Wednesday on Instagram in response to a fan question about the production freeze. “We didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that was happening.”

Paul posted on Instagram in December that filming had wrapped on “The Bachelorette,” which is hosted by Jesse Palmer.

Demi Moore has marked Bruce Willis’s 71st birthday with a warm tribute on Instagram, sharing photos of her former husband alongside their granddaughter in a post that speaks to the enduring closeness of their blended family.

Moore, 63, posted the snaps on Thursday, 19 March, with one showing Willis receiving a kiss from two-year-old Louetta, the daughter of their eldest child Rumer, while she sat in his lap. 

“All you need is LOVE. Happy birthday, BW!” Moore wrote alongside the post, and shared a further snap on her Instagram Stories with the caption, “Generational birthday love! Happy birthday, BW!”

Willis’s current wife Emma Heming Willis also marked the occasion, using the birthday to shine a light on her newly announced charity, The Emma & Bruce Willis Fund. 

“If you’d like to honour Bruce today, please consider supporting the fund or another organisation working in this space, or simply checking in on a caregiver, a small act of kindness that can mean so much,” Emma, 47, wrote in her tribute.

Willis was diagnosed with aphasia in 2022, followed by frontotemporal dementia, and stepped away from acting at that time. 

Moore, who received an Oscar nomination this year for The Substance, next appears on screen alongside Keke Palmer in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, due in cinemas on 22 May. 

She also stars in the Paramount+ series Landman, which has been renewed for a third season.

Action movie icon Chuck Norris was hospitalised in Hawaii on Thursday, March 19, following a medical emergency.

The incident occurred days after celebrating his 86th birthday with an outdoor boxing session.

“The Missing in Action” actor was on the island of Kauai when the incident occurred. Although the nature of the medical emergency has not been disclosed yet, sources close to TMZ stated that Norris is in “good spirits” and was cracking jokes with friends shortly before being admitted.

The hospitalization was a surprise to fans, especially after watching Norris spar energetically in a video he posted on his Instagram account on March 10, celebrating his birthday. In the video, the martial artist was seen playfully throwing punches with his trainer under the sun in Hawaii.

In his birthday post, he wrote: “I don’t age. I level up. I’m 86 today! Nothing like some playful action on a sunny day to make you feel young. I’m grateful for another year, good health and the chance to keep doing what I love.”

“Thank you all for being the best fans in the world. Your support through the years has meant more to me than you’ll ever know,” he added.

Norris is married to Gena O’Kelley with whom he shares 24-year-old twins. From his previous relationships, he has five children.