Brittany Cartwright opened up about the most challenging aspects of her reality TV journey and the support she received from Teresa Giudice. She also discussed feeling “triggered” during the filming of Special Forces, which she attributed to her tumultuous relationship with her estranged husband, Jax Taylor.

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Brittany entered the intense competition with optimism but opted out shortly after the first episode commenced. In a memorable scene, the show’s sergeants placed a bag over her head and forced her face into the mud, testing her limits. Despite managing to leap from a helicopter, Brittany decided to withdraw when asked to undertake a long-distance run.

“Physically, nothing compares to the challenges of Special Forces,” Brittany shared in an interview with Parade. “However, my experience on The Valley Season 2 was the most demanding thing I’ve ever faced. It’s an entirely different beast. Out of my decade in reality TV, that season was by far the toughest.”

She also provided updates on her current well-being.

The star shared how she’s now doing.

“I feel great,” she explained. “I’ve almost been separated… it’ll be two years in January. A lot of people don’t realize how long it actually has been because The Valley Season 2 just ended. But yeah, two years in January. So, I’ve been in such a better place than I was last season.”

She said the hardest part of filming Special Forces was being away from her son.

“With his autism, it’s hard,” shared Brittany. “I just was trying to explain [to him], you know, ‘I will be right back,’ and just spend as much time as I could with him leading up to the day that I left. I’ve never been gone from him that long. So, I would FaceTime him whenever I could before we started everything. And he’s just always smiling [and] kissing the phone. He’s amazing. So, he was happy to see me when I came home, for sure.”

“Teresa kind of became like a mama bear [to me on Special Forces],” said Brittany of her costar. “She was cleaning the mud off my face and doing little cute things like that.”

Despite her early exit, Brittany said she’s proud of everything she did to prep for the show.

“I was carrying Cruz up and down the stairs,” said Brittany. “And like, trying to push a stroller up a big hill and just doing stuff like that.”

Speaking to Decider, Brittany claimed that the show’s Directing Staff (DS) “triggered” her, though she thought she could “handle” the screaming and yelling because she just got out of “such a toxic relationship” with her husband, Jax. But it reality, it made it worse. 

“I wasn’t prepared like I thought I was, emotionally and mentally, to deal with something like that again,” said Brittany. “I know that’s their job. No hate towards them whatsoever. That’s their job to put us through the wringer, to do all that stuff. But men screaming at me and putting me down and just telling me how weak I was just wasn’t for me.”

“I’m just so proud of myself that I [jumped out of a helicopter] because I’m the type of person who doesn’t even want to look over the side of a balcony,” she said.

Brittany shared that she didn’t reach out to Tom Sandoval, who competed in an earlier season, because she hasn’t spoken to him in years and he’s no longer in her circle of friends.

“As soon as they put the bags on our heads and were yelling at us and everything else, it didn’t feel like [a TV show] anymore,” she said. “I was shaking uncontrollably. Even in the very beginning, I thought I was going to have a panic attack just from having the bag over my head. It was over 100 degrees outside. It was so hot.”

Brittany continued, “We’re in regular clothes, bags overhead. If I didn’t find a little pocket of air – I was able to put my chin down and have this little bit of light right there – if I wouldn’t have had that, I don’t know what I would have done. And thank God the DS didn’t see me doing that because I was able to go like this and lay down with my head against my chin and breathe that way.”

As for her decision to quit, Brittany said she was “definitely disappointed in myself.”

“I came in really wanting to prove something. I really wanted to show something. I think signing up for that show is showing something. I’ve been getting a lot of hate and a lot of different things about the show,” she said. “[I’ve been getting] a lot of support as well. It’s not all bad.”

She added, “But a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, you didn’t even look tired.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, are we watching the same show?’ I was exhausted, I could not move my legs anymore. I could not do anything anymore … I didn’t have any more to give at that point. I was just like, ‘I miss my son. This is so hard. I faced my fear. I can be proud of myself.’”