There’s a new plot twist in Jax Taylor’s split from Brittany Cartwright.
Taylor, 45, was served divorce papers on camera while filming season 2 of Bravo’s The Valley, a reality spinoff of Vanderpump Rules, Us Weekly has learned.
The news, which was first reported by TMZ on Wednesday, August 28, came one day after Cartwright, 35, filed to divorce from Taylor after five years of marriage. Per court documents obtained by Us on Tuesday, August 27, she listed their official date of separation as January 24. Cartwright cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split and is seeking primary legal and physical custody of their 3-year-old son, Cruz, with visitation for Taylor.
According to TMZ, Cartwright, who stars on The Valley alongside her ex, filmed footage for the show on the day that she filed. She and Taylor did not film together.
Us Weekly has reached out to Taylor’s rep for comment.
Hours after filing, Cartwright was photographed going to dinner with The Valley costar Zack Wickham at Taisho, a Japanese restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California.
The estranged pair have yet to directly acknowledge the divorce, though Cartwright has taken to Instagram to share several glam photos with empowering captions. On Tuesday, she captioned a photo of herself sporting a bright pink dress, “Getting my sparkle back.”
“Shine on,” former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, who is in the middle of her own divorce from Bryan Abasolo, remarked in the comments section. Nia Sanchez, who stars alongside Cartwright and Taylor on The Valley, gushed, “Yes!! Love you queen Britt.”
Earlier in August, Taylor completed his month-long in-patient treatment for his “mental health struggles.” His rep told Us in a statement, “Jax has spent the last 30 days in treatment and will be heading back home later this week. It’s been an emotional month for him and he’s most looking forward to spending time with his son.”
Cartwright and Taylor’s relationship has endured many highs and lows over the years. They first met during a trip to Las Vegas in 2015, and Cartwright joined Taylor on season 4 of Vanderpump Rules the following year. The duo went on to have their own spinoff series, Vanderpump Rules: Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky, which aired in 2017.
Despite a past cheating scandal with VPR costar Faith Stowers, the twosome worked through the rough patch and got engaged in June 2018. They tied the knot in June 2019 and eventually left Vanderpump Rules in 2020.
“He needs to go to therapy,” Cartwright exclusively told Us in April. “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.”
She added, “But I won’t waste my time and get back into a toxic situation. Now the veil has been lifted and I see how much I was always cleaning up Jax’s messes. I’m thrown in the middle of all these fights and constantly forced to apologize for him in the media and to friends. It’s hard.”
