Jax Taylor is speaking out after estranged wife Brittany Cartwright filed for divorce after five years of marriage.
“I know that Brittany addressed our current situation on last week’s podcast. It’s been a really, really rough week. Anyone that has gone through a divorce will understand how difficult this is,” Taylor, 45, said on the Friday, September 6, episode of his and Cartwright’s “When Reality Hits” podcast. “Brittany did file for divorce. I understand why she did and I agree that this is the right decision for our family.”
Taylor hoped to get to a better place with Cartwright for the sake of their 3-year-old son, Cruz, adding, “I’ll always love and care for Brittany. She’s the mother of my beautiful son. All I want for us is to be amicable and even hopefully really, really good friends. One day. I know I’m an amazing father and I know that I will make an excellent ex-husband.”
At the start of the episode, Taylor also addressed his 30-day stay at an in-patient treatment facility.
“It was a very, very scary step for me, but it really needed to happen. It’s something I’ve been holding onto for many, many years,” he continued. “I’ve known for years that there’s been something wrong but I just didn’t want to know. During my stay, I found out a lot about myself. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.”
Taylor concluded: “I now have a little bit better understanding of my mental health struggles. I’ve been put on some serious medication that’s actually been helping me out a lot. In time, I’ll definitely speak more about it openly, but right now I kind of just need to deal with this process.”
Us Weekly confirmed on August 27 that Cartwright filed for divorce from Taylor. The pair, who star on Bravo’s The Valley, first announced their separation in February, and court documents list their date of separation as January 24.
Cartwright cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their divorce and is seeking primary legal and physical custody of Cruz, with visitation for Taylor. Cartwright does not want either of them to receive spousal support.
Her filing came nearly one month after Taylor voluntarily decided to enter treatment.
“Jax has always been candid about his mental health struggles, especially during the past few months on his podcast,” a rep for Taylor told Us in a statement on July 30. “He has made the decision to seek in-patient treatment. This is a particularly sensitive time for him and his family. They ask for privacy and respect until he is ready to speak more on this matter.”
In her April Us Weekly cover story, Cartwright said she was undecided on filing for divorce and declared that she wanted to see more effort from Taylor.
“There are a lot of things, and I’m not seeing enough effort from his side,” she said at the time. “He needs to go to therapy. He doesn’t need to be staying out at the bar all the time. He needs to respect me more and stop taking me for granted. I was the closest person to him and was kind of like his punching bag. He was always giving me jabs. I can’t deal with that for the rest of my life.”
However, she noted that they were doing well with coparenting. “If this ends in a divorce, we will discuss what happened with him later in life,” Cartwright said. “We’re not fighting in front of him and we try to do fun things like the aquarium and the zoo. I feel like Cruz is happier that we’re not in the same house right now — and that tells me a lot.”
The duo met in Las Vegas in 2015, and Cartwright joined Taylor on season 4 of Vanderpump Rules the following year. They scored their own spinoff, Vanderpump Rules: Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky, which aired in 2017, and returned to the flagship show until they announced their exit in late 2020. Fans saw the pair get engaged in June 2018 and their wedding (officiated by Lance Bass) one year later. They welcomed son Cruz in April 2021 and launched their podcast, “When Reality Hits With Jax and Brittany,” in March 2023. They continued to collaborate on their podcast amid their separation, but Cartwright confirmed after filing for divorce that they would be recording it separately going forward.
