Peacock Brittany Cartwright.
Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright’s marital problems will be featured heavily on “The Valley.”
In February 2024, the former “Vanderpump Rules” stars confirmed they separated after nearly five years of marriage. “It’s important to be real and honest with you guys because we’ve shared so much of our lives with you guys,” Cartwright said on the February 29, 2024, episode of the “When Reality Hits” podcast. “Marriages in general are very hard and I’ve had a particularly rough year this past year. Jax and I are taking time apart and I made the decision to move into another home to take some space for the sake of my mental health.”
The news less than a month before the couple’s Bravo spinoff was set to debut, prompting speculation that the breakup was drummed up to create buzz for the new series.
But a look at “The Valley” trailer shows that the couple had serious problems during filming last summer.
“The Valley” premieres on March 19 on Bravo.
Here’s what you need to know:
Brittany Cartwright Said Jax Was No Longer Attracted To Her & Shut Down Her Baby Fever
On the March 8, 2024, episode of “When Reality Hits,” Cartwright revealed that although filming for “The Valley” wrapped last fall, cameras returned to film the aftermath of her separation from Taylor. “We did pick up cameras,” she told podcast listeners. “We filmed ‘The Valley’ in July, August, and September. So we wrapped in September and we picked back up to let everyone know what’s going on with our lives now for a couple of days.”
But “The Valley” trailer offered a look at some of the drama that took place last summer. It’s clear the marriage was rocky well before the split was announced.
In one scene, Cartwright tells her co-star Janet Caperna, “I don’t feel like [Jax] is attracted to me. We don’t have sex ever.”
In another scene, Taylor shuts down Cartwright’s “baby fever” more than two years after welcoming son, Cruz. “Bringing in another human being, it’s worrisome to me,” he says.
And another scene features the two having a blowout fight in front of a group of their friends. “You’re my [expletive] husband, and you’re trying to make me look like I’m a bad person. [Expletive] you!” Cartwright screams before Taylor accuses her of having “a [expletive] problem.”
There are also rumors swirling that Taylor cheated on his wife.
The storylines are reminiscent of the longtime couple’s drama from their days on “Vanderpump Rules.” On the VPR season 6 episode, “Sex, Lies and Audiotape,” Taylor was caught cheating with his then-girlfriend Cartwright with fellow SUR waitress Faith Stowers. A phone recording also surfaced in which Taylor allegedly said he didn’t want to marry Cartwright and wasn’t attracted to her.
“You deserve to rot in hell!” Cartwright screamed at Taylor after she heard the recording.
Tom Schwartz Predicted Taylor & Cartwright’s Split
PeacockBrittany Cartwright.
Elsewhere in “The Valley” trailer, Taylor admits he’s struggling with life as a family man. “It’s so hard to be married sometimes,” he admits.“I don’t know how to manage raising a child, raising a family, starting a business,” he says later.
In August 2023, Taylor announced on his podcast that he was opening a sports bar but vowed it wouldn’t negatively affect his marriage in the way that his friend Tom Schwartz’ bar hurt his marriage to Katie Maloney. Taylor admitted he previously said owning a bar is a “marriage killer.” But he added, “The difference is my wife is involved just as much as I am.”
But in a scene for “The Valley,” Schwartz predicts that Taylor will be in the same boat as he is. After Taylor boasts, “I’ve got a beautiful son. I’ve got a beautiful bar. I got money in the bank,” Schwartz cracks: “It’s only a matter of time before you’re living with me — divorced and miserable.”
Months after that scene was filmed, Taylor is still living in his Valley Village home. But Cartwright has moved elsewhere with their toddler son. In March 2024, Cartwright told TMZ she’d asked Taylor “to do certain things and nothing has come from that yet.”
“I want the best for me and for my son at this point,” she added. “That’s my main focus, but for sure, if he switches some things and changes some things about his life then maybe we can get back together. But, right now, I just don’t know.”
It’s all a far cry from what the two said in March 2023 as they marveled about being the “last couple standing” from the “Vanderpump Rules” cast. “We are very much in love,” Taylor said on “Watch What Happens Live” last year. “’We’ve got a beautiful home and a beautiful family. Life is good. I can’t complain. I’ve grown.”
READ NEXT: Former ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Stars Return to TV in ‘The Valley’