Jax Taylor has Tom Sandoval’s support as he navigates his divorce from Brittany Cartwright.
“Actually, Tom Sandoval has reached out to me more than anybody, and I know people are gonna be shocked by that,” Taylor, 45, said during the Thursday, October 3, episode of his and Cartwright’s “When Reality Hits” podcast. “I have been hanging out with him a little bit more lately.”
Taylor, who recorded the episode solo, noted that Sandoval, 42, also reached out to him when he spent 30 days in a mental health treatment program over the summer.
“[He was] just checking on me. … I was shocked because I [hadn’t] heard from Tom in a long time, and now I probably talk to Tom three or four times a week,” Taylor said. “I love Tom, and I will always love him no matter what he does. He’s my best friend, along with Tom Schwartz. They’re both my best friends. People make mistakes in life, but you gotta move on from it, and we all gotta forgive each other at some point.”
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Taylor and Sandoval’s at-times rocky friendship was documented on Vanderpump Rules for years before Taylor left the show after season 8 in 2020. Who could forget the season 2 episode when Sandoval punched Taylor for sleeping with his then-girlfriend Kristen Doute or the season 4 moment when Taylor told Sandoval, “Dude, stop acting like you’re the No. 1 f---ing guy in this group, man. I’m the No. 1 guy in this group?”
More recently, Taylor repeatedly slammed Sandoval for how he handled the fallout of his affair with Rachel Leviss, which came to light in March 2023 when he was still dating Ariana Madix.
“I want to make it very clear. I did not go after Tom Sandoval about cheating. That had nothing to do with it … Everybody on the show has cheated,” Taylor exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2024. “My anger issue was how Sandoval handled it afterwards. He didn’t stay here. He didn’t take the bullets. He deflected them on to Tom Schwartz, who had to sit there [and] take a beating.”
Taylor then claimed that Sandoval left Schwartz, 41, to deal with the deluge of negative reviews that their bar, Schwartz & Sandy’s, received in the wake of the scandal.
“Because Tom Sandoval wasn’t around, his restaurant took a beating,” Taylor said at the time. “I just felt like, ‘Dude, why did you take off? … You should have stayed here and said you know what, I f----ed up. I made a mistake. And I’m gonna own it and I’m gonna be here for my business partner, my best friend.’”
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After telling Sandoval to take accountability for his mistakes, Taylor is now trying to do the same. During a September episode of his podcast, the Valley star admitted that he believes he is a narcissist.
“I am a narcissist, yes. I breadcrumb, I love bomb [and take part in] gaslighting. I’m missing some, but I do all these things. I had no idea there were terms for these things,” he said. “I look up the definition for all these new terms and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I do that. I do that too.’ I don’t even know how to talk anymore without being labeled as one of these things.”
Taylor also hinted that he wasn’t easy to be married to, saying that Cartwright filing for divorce in August was “the right decision” for the former couple and their 3-year-old son, Cruz.
“I know I’m an amazing father,” said Taylor, who has agreed to grant full custody of Cruz to Cartwright. “And I know that I will make an excellent ex-husband.”
