Tensions reached a fever pitch between The Valley’s Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright when they decided to split for good, and Jax just gave listeners a run-down of the drama in a recent episode of Bravo’s Hot Mic podcast with producer Alex Baskin.
In the Hot Mic Season 3 premiere, Brittany defended her decision to hook up with Jax’s friend, Julian, stating she was “open and honest” about it. However, in the follow-up podcast episode, Jax said it was “a slap in the face” when he found evidence of it on his estranged wife’s phone, resulting in him entering a “downward spiral.”
Learn what Jax had to say about Brittany seeing his friend in Season 3, Episode 2 of Bravo's Hot Mic podcast (and see how text messages get him and other men on The Valley in hot water next season in a video portion exclusive to BravoTV.com).
How did Jax learn about Brittany dating his friend?
“We were sitting in my house, and her phone was on the coffee table,” Jax started. “And a message popped up, and I looked at it, and it was a simple message from Julian. But it was at night, and it was just a very weird message, and I caught her on it … I caught her in a couple of lies, and then I got it out of her an hour into the conversation.”
Jax explained that Brittany “finally broke,” leaving him “in shock.”
Jax said he and his estranged wife — who share a 3-year-old son, Cruz — had agreed to go their separate ways (which they announced in February 2024) and see other people, but they’d previously set boundaries. One of them, Jax said, was no dating within their friend group.
Brittany said in her Hot Mic interview that they never discussed such a rule, however.
“I don’t think I would have been bothered by it if it was somebody else that I didn’t know,” Jax said. “There was a whole five or six months where I wasn’t seeing anybody, but this was going on.”
Jax said he’d opened the door for this friend, helping him build relationships, and even went so far as to get him a manager. Despite his own past infidelities — such as his scandalous affair when Jax and Brittany were still cast members on Vanderpump Rules — he said learning about Brittany’s love life, coupled with the fact that she was secretive about it, turned the last eight months of Jax’s life into a living hell.
“I definitely got a taste of my own medicine,” Jax told Baskin.
Why did Jax and Brittany break up?
Jax claimed that in early July, just two days before he sought mental health treatment at an in-patient facility, he was preparing to leave for a Fourth of July visit to his Michigan-based sister. At the time, Brittany was about to leave for her own Kentucky travels.
For Jax, things between them were “looking great,” and they even discussed reconciliation once he returned from the trip.
“Then she was upstairs cleaning, and I just saw the iPad, and she was still talking to Julian and sending him pictures, like naked pictures, and pictures of my son,” Jax said on the podcast. “I lost it … that was where I hit the bottom of the barrel.”
Jax stated he “saw red” and had “an out-of-body experience” when learning of the ongoing relationship.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, I went crazy,” he told Baskin. “I threw furniture … Luckily, thank God, my son was upstairs, but that was my breaking point.”
Two days later, friends set up an intervention, and Jax entered the facility, where he was ultimately diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Who initiated the Jax Taylor-Brittany Cartwright breakup?
Baskin teased the next season of The Valley, stating Jax was served divorce papers shortly after leaving treatment. Jax said he “knew that was coming” but said not all was as it seemed and that he was the one to contact a mediator during his second week at the facility. He claimed he hoped to keep the separation amicable and avoid the high costs of divorce lawyers.
“People don’t realize that I’m the one that initiated this,” he said on the podcast. “I just want to make it very clear, because it looks like she’s the one who did it first.”
Jax said Brittany’s response to his suggestion for a mediator prompted Brittany to get a divorce lawyer because, he believed, “she wanted to be the first one to serve me papers publicly.”
Jax figured Brittany felt “blindsided” by his move, believing he would continue to place more effort into saving the marriage. But, by the time he initiated the divorce, he was “really checked out.”
