Welcome back to The Viall Files: Going Deeper edition. Hulu’s Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 3 is currently filming, and boy is the drama giving. Is Dakota still with Taylor? What did he actually do? And, why did the relationship crumble? Dakota joins for a very honest and transparent interview, where he dives into his history of rehabilitation and journey to finding love. “I’m not responsible for Zac and how he acted" Listen to Humble Brag with Cynthia Bailey and Crystal Kung Minkoff! Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humble-brag-with-crystal-and-cynthia/id1774286896 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humblebragpod Listen To Disrespectfully now! Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disrespectfully/id1516710301 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCh8MqSsiGkfJcWhkan0D0w Start your 7 Day Free Trial of Viall Files + here: https://viallfiles.supportingcast.fm/ To Order Nick’s Book Go To: http://www.viallfiles.com Are you struggling with any sort of dating, relationship, or life dilemma? Do you want all the answers? Email [email protected] with your question in the subject line to express interest in appearing on the show! To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected] or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/theviallfiles Thank You to Our Sponsors: Brooklinen - Shop award-winners and fan-faves in-store or online at https://brooklinen.com Skylight Frame - Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to https://skylightcal.com/viall Car Gurus - Buy or sell your next car today with Car Gurus at https://cargurus.com True Classic - You can grab them at Target, Costco, or head to https://trueclassic.com/viall and get hooked up today Pura - Right now, get 20% off Car ProTM and all car fragrances with code CAR20 —but only for a limited time. Visit https://pura.com and upgrade your summer drive today. Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro (02:43) - Backstory and Addiction (34:57) - Getting Clean (52:36) - Relationship with Taylor (01:11:33) - Moving On (01:35:54) - Mayci (01:42:17) - Outro Episode Socials: @viallfiles @nickviall @nnataliejjoy @dakota_mortensen @ciaracrobinson @justinkaphillips @leahgsilberstein @dereklanerussell
Chapter 1: What is Dakota Mortensen's backstory?
Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Are you nervous? Yeah. Yeah, I always get like nervous and then I feel like once maybe I like start going a little bit. Do you need a sip of water? I always do. Always do. I'm going to take a sip.
You got that nervous cotton mouth.
I can hear it. I can hear it in your voice. Dude, yeah, it's so weird. It's like the one thing. That's how I know when I'm nervous. Yeah.
Did you grow up in Utah? Yeah.
No, I grew up in Idaho.
Oh, Udaho.
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, and I actually, I grew up on a farm too. So I lived like a, just kind of like a country life. It was, it was awesome.
So what brought you to Utah?
I actually, when I got sober, the last time I got sober- I think it was just hard for me to be in Idaho just during that time because like everywhere I went, it felt like it was just trigger after trigger. Like it was like, oh, this gas station. Oh, this place like everywhere I went.
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Chapter 2: How did Dakota overcome addiction?
It's crazy, yeah.
Didn't. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I had no idea. And so we're there, I'm pouring like handfuls of these pills, dude, putting them in my pocket. And then that same kid was like, I also hear that if you snort them, they work better. And so the second time ever, and it was more of a joke, like it was like funny, like we were like laughing about, he's never done it. And so he's like, let's try it.
And so we tried it. And I remember when I was driving home, that was like the first time I felt Like a high. Like and I remember when I was driving home and I was like, this is the best feeling in the world. Like I was like, this feels so good. Like I just felt like anything inside of me was just like gone. Like I felt very like just I was like, I don't really care about anything right now.
And from there, it just, it just progressed really fast. Like I, you know, I eventually just got to where I started getting those as much as I could. And like my personality at the time, like I was, I was friends with everybody. So it was like, I was friends with the skater kids. I was friends with the drug addict kids.
I was like, so then that branched out, you know, because then some of the drug addict friends of mine, I was like, Hey, can you get me some of this stuff? And they're like, yeah, we can. And then like, and then it bumped to oxy. And then from oxy, you know, you can go up in the milligrams of those.
And then like before I knew it and I had no idea that I remember I was in class and over the intercom, it's when like, uh, the pill epidemic was like getting really bad. They announced it over the intercom and, uh, They were saying like, hey, you know, just like talking about like how addictive it is and how how bad they are. And I remember I was like sitting there.
I was like, well, I'm kind of scared right now. And so I remember right after that, I was like, I'm not going to do it anymore. And I tried to stop. And I was like, I couldn't like already. I was like, I couldn't stop.
And what was the feeling you had when you how long did you stop for a day?
Not long. Yeah, it was like it was like maybe like a day or two.
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Chapter 3: What was Dakota's relationship with Taylor like?
Yeah, like she never said anything. And I still to this day, when I think back sometimes on that story, I'm like, that was crazy. Like that they just kind of were like, okay with that. And the cool thing is that kid, he's sober now. His mom's sober now. I think his whole family is sober, which is like a miracle. It's really cool because he was really bad too.
And he went down a really dark path as well. Yeah, once I started smoking them and then the cost for these pills, it got so crazy. You were spending, they were selling, you know. Because eventually, yeah, people stopped giving them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It got to a point where they were selling them for $50 a pill. And so it's a lot of money.
And during this whole time- How are you making money at this point? Working. I always worked. I was always working. I was construction. You name it. And it was always manual labor. Just growing up in Idaho, I was always doing- At this point, you're high working manual labor.
Yeah, so I was high all the time. Did your parents start noticing a change in your behavior? Or employers started noticing a change in your behavior?
Yeah, the funny part is the first time I smoked weed ever in my life, I got caught by my parents because I was so high and I had no idea what it was like. And these stoner kids I was with just kept telling me that it's your first time. You're not going to get high. So I'm just like taking these bong rips. Just like this before.
your pill addiction?
I think it was right in the beginning phases of it. So, and then I was like, I'm going to try weed. And I was so high in there. Like, ah, dude, you'll be fine. Even you got like three hours, you won't be high or, you know, or something like that. Two hours till you're back home. I came back home and you know, I, I couldn't even, I couldn't talk.
My dad saw me and it was like an instant, like what is wrong with you? And I remember he was yelling at me and I was laughing because I was so high. Like I just thought it was funny. And so it was crazy because when I look back at everything, it really was a blessing with my family because they caught me with pills really early on as well.
And so they knew almost from the start of when I started everything that like I was like kind of like starting to dabble with some of these things. And then from there went to heroin because then oxys were so expensive. Heroin was a little cheaper. Similar highs. So you just transfer and a lot of people do this.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Dakota face after getting clean?
What was the craziest thing you did?
The craziest thing? Hmm. I mean, I mean, I did, you know, I mean, I'm like.
Judgment free zone.
Yeah. Thank you guys. I appreciate that. I mean, like I, I stole a lot.
Like your mom's thing. Yeah.
I stole a lot of stuff from my parents and like would pawn stuff off. I remember we would do this thing. One of my buddies learned that like, like a big thing was tools like power tools. If you like a lot of people, you could get a lot of money for them. So I had a buddy that learned a trick where you could go into these stores. We do it at Walmart even. Sorry, Walmart. Sorry, Home Depot.
And I think they changed it now because of it. But you would go in, you would grab a tool or something, and then you would walk straight to the return store.
place and some of the places would return it without a receipt and then they would give you money for it so like i would i would go with a buddy we would walk into walmart he would go and grab all of these like oh i can't even remember what they were at the time like and we would just walk straight to the to the return thing and they would exchange that for cash
And you would take that cash and go straight.
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Chapter 5: How does Dakota's experience with addiction shape his perspective now?
Oh, yeah. I mean, like, if you were to look at my family, you'd be like, what happened to you? Like, not, but just meaning like, yeah, like.
Yeah, you assume. I mean, if you just hear your story, people are naturally going to assume that you came from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. Yeah.
A hundred percent. And what's crazy even is when I was going in these like trap houses and These straight junkies would look at me and be like, what are you doing here? They would tell me that. They're like, you don't belong here.
I had multiple drug addicts, straight just junkies that they got to a point where they cared about me enough to where they would stop selling me drugs because they would be like, this is not who you're destined to be. You're not, you're not this.
And I always remember that because I thought that was so weird that the people would even say that to me, like, especially like just being like that, because, you know, I always had to try to put on like a, you know, almost an act of looking like I, you know, whether it was around, you know, my family or just people, like it came from a small town.
So I always tried to fit apart to where it looked like I was okay. And in reality, I wasn't.
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Chapter 6: What advice does Dakota have for parents regarding drug prevention?
Yeah. It's like methadone. Methadone. Were you on that? Nope. No, I, and cold Turkey.
Yeah.
I cold Turkey that, and, uh, the crazy thing is, is when I was in Utah, I actually was sober for close to like four and a half years, five years. So I was actually doing great. I was actually super happy. I was just loving life again. I never got to really enjoy life, it almost felt like. I just felt like I missed out on everything. I never got to do anything. I ended up
having a relapse and it was fentanyl and then i started using fentanyl after four years of being so yeah i went back and uh that that one how long ago was that that one was over now it's been over three years And it was so hard. Like, fentanyl was a whole game changer. In a bad way.
Yes.
Thank you for clarifying. Yes, it was not in a good way. Yeah, it was so hard. Like, even from heroin to that, the jump from that to that one... It was so tough. And so I eventually got to a point there where I was like, okay, I'm going to have to do something here to get clean.
And the cool part was because I had such a long period of time where I was sober, I knew like how it kind of worked at this point. I understood addiction a little bit better. I had like the knowledge. What I actually did, it sounds weird, but I did it just for myself too so that I could see.
I actually documented a lot of that period of time for myself to watch what it did to how much it changes you. When I watch back on some of those videos, it would blow your mind. Your whole thought process changes immediately. I was so positive and just happy. Even if I didn't have anything, I was just happy. I was like, I don't need anything. I can enjoy life. I'm just happy to be alive.
And it went straight back to like, I hate myself. You're worthless. You're never going to do anything. So it was crazy to just see how much the drugs do impact that side of things as well. So how were you able to kick that? Um, I decided that I was like, the only way I can do this is if I just, uh, so I, I, at the time I was living in Idaho again for a little bit, it was during the pandemic. And.
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Chapter 7: How did Dakota's relationship with Taylor evolve?
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Let's start unpacking that.
So I met Taylor. So when I moved back, I met her at that time. I think I was and here's the thing. I was only, I think, five months sober, six, six months sober when I met her. Yeah. When I met Taylor, I just, again, like how I am as a person, it's really hard for me to feel like I like, like someone enough to give someone myself.
Like, it's just like, like, I just don't ever, I've never felt like I, it's hard for me to find somebody where I really am like, yes, like I want to be with you. And with Taylor, when I met her, that's where I kind of felt really scared. It scared me more than anything.
It scared me for so many different reasons because, one, given her whole background, her whole situation of what she was just coming from. I was scared of that. So she was already famous, wasn't she, when you met her? And mom talked famous. Well, yeah. No, no. The scandal was already out. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, she was famous.
But the funny thing is, I actually didn't know about really anything of that until the scandal thing came out. But Taylor, we have mutual friends.
When you say scandal, when she went online and said-
yeah this is going on in my life yeah like my tiktok page at that time was like just like goofy like weird stuff and then like all of a sudden you know i'd see a few things about this i was like my girlfriend Yeah, well, and what's funny is, like I said, like my best friend is like, she like, she was friends with Taylor. And so, and I had like other mutual friends that knew Taylor.
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Chapter 8: What lessons did Dakota learn through his journey?
Like it's, and again, that might come back to the- When it feels like the way for you or appears that way in terms of like why me or so many people online like have asked you that question or presented that as a possibility.
Yeah, probably both. I mean, but here's the side that like, yeah, again, the context of me and Taylor's relationship, if you knew everything, it would all make a thousand times more sense.
And that's like the thing is it's, you know, you're getting these like bits and pieces and you're getting Taylor where, you know, it's whether it's a scene or, you know, whether she's triggered and super upset at me. For good reason, for a lot of the stuff. I get it. I did. And especially given her background and her daddy issues, the things I did were hurting the parts in her.
And those things being what was shown season two in terms of you not coming... Fully clean with the early stages of your relationship and what seemed to be like a, I don't know, nowadays everyone's in these situationships and no one's defining things. And there's always like this gray area of like, we're dating, but we're not together.
We're exclusive, but we're not boyfriend and girlfriend and yada, yada, yada. Is that like kind of what your reasoning is for your initial decisions for why you forget about what you did or didn't tell Taylor? But I want to more focus on your actions of like the women that you were hanging out with, hooking up with.
Yeah.
Why were you in your, from your perspective, why were you doing what you were doing in that period of time?
yeah no great question i think for me during that time like when i first when i first hung with taylor even again that like taylor was just going through all all this stuff right so like taylor like the you know the first thing she's like told me was like i'm not ready for any relationship for a long time so i knew that right from the gate and i and i didn't expect that from taylor it's not like i expected her to be like ready to just jump into a relationship and not only that but
I was also coming from the whole other side for me too, to where I was kind of like, I don't know what I want either, but I am the type of person where I crave love. I want, like, I love love. And there's a part where I always feel like maybe I'll never find it. I'm like, I'm always like, I was like, I don't know if I'll ever find it, but like, I want it so bad.
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