Brittany Cartwright Defends Hooking Up With Jax Taylor’s Friend: “Always Flirting With Him"
Brittany Cartwright said Jax Taylor has "no leg to stand on" after he cheated on her with a friend years ago.
After a tumultuous first season of The Valley that saw Brittany Cartwright and Jax Taylor's marriage fall apart, the couple is in a very different place heading into Season 2. The former Vanderpump Rules SURver sat down with executive producer Alex Baskin on his Hot Mic podcast to talk about dating, co-parenting, and life after Jax — including the rumor that she dated Jax’s friend after they separated.
“I think that me hooking up with his friend, it wasn’t … planned,” Brittany said. “But I also — it was somebody that I felt like I knew, and in our world it’s so crazy because like, how do you trust people? And I was single for the first time in L.A.”
Brittany and Jax began dating during Season 4 of Vanderpump Rules in 2015. Despite a cheating scandal in Season 6, the couple eventually got engaged, married, had a son, and opened a bar together, before Brittany announced their separation in February 2024.
“I wanted to see like, if I wanted to date other people,” Brittany told Baskin. “I was very open and honest about that. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m leaving,’ it was, ‘We are separated and if I want to date other people, I will. If you want to date other people, you will … we don’t need to talk about it.’”
Why Brittany Cartwright Dated Jax Taylor's Friend
Did Brittany and Jax have a “no dating in the friend group” rule like their Vanderpump Rules friends Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz? Brittany cleared the air on Hot Mic.
“We did not have a no dating in the friend group policy,” Brittany explained. “We never spoke about that, because why would we? First of all, I didn’t think that I was going to hook up with his friend. It wasn’t planned. I wasn’t trying to go after one of his friends. That’s not how it happened.”
She did reveal more information about how exactly their relationship began.
“I could tell this guy was flirting with me,” she added. “I was always flirting with him. He is very much my type, and just kind of flirting through DMs, and one time I was just like, ‘Come over,’ slip in the DM. I always thought he was hot, and also, I was just so mad at Jax.”
Jax was caught in many cheating scandals over the years, including in Season 6, when he admitted that he had sex with a coworker while dating Brittany.
“So like, I didn’t care if I hurt his feelings about that. Like, why should I care? He never cared about how he hurt my feelings for years,” Brittany said. “So, it’s like, I’m sorry that you’re so upset about who it is, but at the same time, you didn’t give me attention, affection, or anything for years.”
“Jax has no leg to stand on,” she added. “He hooked up with my friend. Let’s all remember that. And I’m sure, oh, Kristen [Doute], Stassi [Schroeder], like they’ve had history. He's done it to other friends. He has no leg to stand on.”
Brittany clarified that the couple did make other rules for themselves while separated and accused Jax of breaking them.
“What we have said is nobody around Cruz, and nobody at our home that we own together that I still pay the bills for that,” she said. “All my photos and my furniture and everything I own is still at that house and my son stays there. Like just please don’t have girls at the house. So those are the rules. I don’t know if he had anybody around Cruz, but he definitely had people at my house.”
Who is Brittany Cartwright dating now?
Brittany is currently single. She said despite her painful divorce, she still has interest in dating.
“I think I deserve to be treated nicely and have fun — like that will help me,” Brittany said. “I definitely need to heal. I’m not trying to be in a relationship, have a boyfriend right now. But flirting and getting attention and just having fun, and I think it’s fun.”
Watch the video edition of Bravo's Hot Mic Podcast at BravoTV.com/podcast or listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.
