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Credit: Instagram

The Valley‘s Zack Wickham addressed Jax Taylor’s “manipulation” with estranged wife Brittany Cartwright, and he clarified his past comments about Lala Kent and Scheana Shay. The star also shared why he called out certain Vanderpump Rules stars who only recently unfollowed James Kennedy.

At the end of 2024, James was arrested under suspicion of a misdemeanor domestic violence incident. For a while now, Zack’s good friend Kristen Doute, who dated James years ago, has seemingly alluded to similar accusations.

Scheana, Ariana Madix, and Katie Maloney, however, apparently waited until March before unfollowing him. They unfollowed him after James was spotted in a photo with the Tate Brothers, who have been accused of human trafficking. Zack called the co-stars out on it.

In an interview for Decider, Zack shared whether he thinks Jax has changed amid his divorce and sobriety from cocaine.

“I have seen a change for the worse,” said the star. “[He] isn’t even trying [to better himself anymore] … I’ve seen you try in the past, fail, and then pick back up and try again. I haven’t seen the effort that he wants to say he’s putting in … And I’m not gonna let you gaslight America or Brittany into thinking you are.”

Though Zack comes up with his own one-liners on the show, he claimed a castmate assumed producers were writing them for him, and the co-star asked production to write lines for them.

He later was asked how he feels about Scheana, Lala, and Tom Schwartz‘s cameos on The Valley, given Zack’s past comments suggesting he didn’t want them on the show.

“With any friendship, you have the ups and downs and you might not see eye to eye on certain things. And so that might be where some of my comments online have come from,” he answered. “But I am actually very happy to see Tom Schwartz on the show. Even Scheana and Lala. The more the merrier sometimes. Do I think our show holds its own without them? Sure. Do they add? Possibly. So I’m here for whatever. If they come on, let’s bring it because they’re part of our groups anyway outside of filming, so it makes sense.”

Zack then addressed how he called out stars after they unfollowed James.

“I think this is no surprise to anybody – I am Kristen Doute’s best friend, No. 1, like, you come for her, you come for me,” he said. “I have just seen some not great behavior or friendship that I would consider, like, slights to her over the years. Even when people had all the information, they were making these conscious decisions to either talk about [James] in the press or to make light of things … You didn’t have to sing his praises. There were just certain decisions that I was like, ‘Wow, it felt very fake.’”

“And then all of a sudden when it’s publicly not cool … then all the sudden it’s a big deal and you want to make this splash,” he added. “I just felt like, for me, I had to call it out. It’s not even a slight to any of them. Some people didn’t realize they were following him and then something big happens and you look and you’re like, ‘Oh, I need to unfollow.’”

As for the tense scene between Brittany and Jax before he went to rehab, Zack said he’s seen “many worse situations.”

“So that was maybe Jax on light, which is crazy to say,” Zack said.

He then added, “Also, you don’t understand the manipulation, the emotional beating down she has endured.”