Brittany Cartwright Shares Which Cosmetic Procedure Gave Her a 'Confidence Boost’ amid Jax Taylor Divorce (Exclusive)

The Vanderpump Rules alum filed for divorce from her husband of five years in August and tells PEOPLE that now, "I'm putting myself first"

Brittany Cartwright has shared her life on TV since joining Vanderpump Rules in 2015, most recently on VPR spinoff The Valley. In the last few years, she's discussed her struggle to feel comfortable in her body after giving birth to her son Cruz in April 2021.

“I've been very open about my weight loss journey,” Cartwright, 35, tells PEOPLE. “And even with as much weight as I lost, there are still so many problem areas that no matter what I did, I cannot fix.”

Related: Brittany Cartwright Says Decision to End 'Toxic Relationship' with Jax Taylor and File for Divorce 'Wasn't Taken Lightly'

To help her feel better about her appearance, Cartwright turned to AirSculpt, a minimally invasive, FDA-approved body contouring treatment designed to permanently remove fat and tighten skin while sculpting targeted areas of the body. Cartwright got the idea from her costar Kristen Doute.

"After seeing Kristen do AirSculpt and how amazing it worked for her, I knew that this was something I had to try,” Cartwright says, adding that her lower abdomen "was my biggest concern.”

So she consulted with Dr. Aaron Rollins at the Miami Clinic and had the treatment done over Memorial Day weekend this year. Cartwright’s Valley castmate and college bestie Zack Wickham joined her in the room while she had Stomach AirSculpt+ done, as well as skin tightening.

“It was so great,” Cartwright says of the treatment, which doesn't require anesthesia. “That was something that I was kind of worried about, because that could be really scary. [But] I didn't feel anything. I remember listening to Little Wayne, Miranda Lambert and Zack kept trying to make me laugh. I felt super comfortable.”

Cartwright also experienced minimal downtime, as she and Wickham went to dinner the same night of her treatment.

“For a couple of weeks, I wore really tight compressions to help keep everything where you want it and just to feel good,” Cartwright says. “It's going to continue to work for six months and I’ll continue to slim over time. I've already seen such good results. I will go back for touch-ups; I will do it again.”

Cartwright says she always planned to do a “mommy makeover,” but she wanted to have more kids with estranged husband Jax Taylor, whom she filed for divorce from in August. Amid their breakup, Cartwright shares that expanding her family is "not happening anytime soon."

That doesn't mean she's giving out hope. “[I'm] not saying I never will — who knows what the future holds? I'm just enjoying this time, trying to get my sparkle back and trying to feel like myself again. AirSculpt gave me an instant confidence boost.”

After feeling like she’d gotten worn down “over and over again” in her marriage to Taylor, 45, Cartwright says undergoing AirSculpt made her feel “way better.”

“A lot of people don't realize how important something like this is for somebody like me,” she continues. “I think everybody could see that I didn't feel like I had any confidence last season. And I just feel like I feel so much better in my clothes now. I feel more like myself. I'm a lot happier. I'm putting myself first and I definitely feel a lot more confident all around.”