Brittany Cartwright felt like she “was forced” to announce her separation from husband Jax Taylor due to all of the rumors about their relationship. Ahead of Tuesday’s premiere of Bravo‘s new Vanderpump Rules spinoff The Valley, Cartwright and Taylor opened up to PopCulture.com about figuring out their recent separation and shutting down untrue speculation surrounding their marriage.
Cartwright, who shares 2-year-old son Cruz with Taylor, first announced last month that after four years of marriage, she had moved out and had been living in an Airbnb since the end of January. The Kentucky native admitted she struggled with her desire to be “open and honest” with her life while navigating the early days of her separation and co-parenting.
“Honestly, the only reason I even had to announce it in the first place was because the Instagram sleuths figured out that I was staying at a different house,” she told PopCulture. “I was almost forced to announce it because all these rumors were spiraling and going around and this and that.” Cartwright’s former Vanderpump Rules co-star and current The Valley castmate Kristen Doute chimed in that recent rumors of Taylor’s infidelity “weren’t true,” which she feels pressured her friend to spill the details of her separation publicly.
“It’s just like I felt like I had to say something because they were figuring things out, but also the rumor mill was just going crazy,” Cartwright agreed. “We put so much of our lives out there, so I know people are going to do whatever because we are so open and honest. So I wanted to be as real as I possibly could.”
Cartwright still isn’t sure what the future holds for her and Taylor, but she did call it “upsetting” to hear people theorize their separation is a publicity stunt for The Valley. “If people actually have watched me for all these years and know me, [they] should realize that I would never do something like that for a publicity stunt,” she said. “I don’t get even how people would think that me as a person would do that. So that’s been hurting my feelings.”
Taylor, in a separate interview with PopCulture, agreed the future is uncertain when it comes to his marriage. “Our main goal right now is just to raise our child,” he explained. “We both love our son more than anything and as long as he sees that he’s got two loving parents that love him more than anything, that’s all I care about.”
“As for me and Brittany, I’m not sure where things are going right now,” he continued. “But we’re both amicable. Nothing is like hostility. There was no cheating … it’s more of a communication thing, but we’re working on it. We’ll see what happens, but I don’t really have an answer for you right now.”
Taylor noted that his ups and downs with Cartwright during this season of The Valley are “just life,” adding, “It’s being married, it’s raising a child. It’s trying to figure out where we fit in and trying to figure out how to raise our child and give him the best opportunities.”
The Valley premieres Tuesday, March 19, on Bravo following Vanderpump Rules at 8 p.m. ET, and episodes will stream the next day on Peacock. On Tuesday, March 26, the series will move to its regular timeslot of 9 p.m. ET.