On March 4th, The Valley star Jax Taylor revealed on Bravo’s Hot Mic podcast that he had been more than 80 days sober following an addiction to cocaine. It has been something that the former Vanderpump Rules star has admitted to battling for over 20 years.

After Jax shared his story about addiction, it wasn’t long after that his VPR cast mates, including his ex-wife, Brittany Cartwright, also spoke out publicly about his dependency on drugs. In fact, Brittany, who welcomed her son, Cruz, with Jax, in 2021, had some pretty harsh things to say about the reality TV star, with whom she filed for divorce in August 2024.

1

Jax Taylor’s Ex-Wife, Brittany Cartwright, Claimed His Addiction Did “Irreparable Damage” To Her And Their Son, Cruz

Brittany Cartwright And Jax Taylor Were Married For 5 Years

The Valley star Brittany Cartwright did not refrain from commenting on Jax Taylor’s admission to having a cocaine addiction. Just hours after his interview with Bravo’s Hot Mic podcast in which he detailed his years-long battle with the drug, Brittany said in a statement that she “prays” her ex “completely knocks this addiction,” but was “skeptical.”

Brittany then took to Instagram Stories, claiming that he had “done irreparable damage” to her and their young son, Cruz.

Brittany also addressed why she had stayed in her marriage with Jax for so long after knowing that he was using drugs. “You can’t help who you fell in love with. I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to get him the help he desperately needed. Unfortunately, I was naive and believed his empty promises and his pleads to change for years.”

“Once you have a child with someone it’s not easy to leave,” she admitted.

In his interview, Jax shared that his son was his “No. 1 driver for” getting better. Jax and Brittany separated in February 2024, with the latter filing for divorce that August. According to Jax, he was only allowed to see his son when Brittany allows him to.

2

Tom Sandoval Said He Was “Aware” Of Jax’s Cocaine Habit

Tom Sandoval Said He Was “Proud” Of His Former Co-Star For Getting Sober

Tom Sandoval appeared as a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on March 6th, where he was asked about Jax’s latest news. “I think that that’s amazing,” Tom told Andy with regard to his former co-star coming out publicly with his addiction issues. “I’m so proud of him. I think that’s so awesome. He really seems like he’s really been working on himself, for real.”

When Andy asked The Traitors Season 3 contestant if he was “aware” that Jax was doing drugs, Tom said:

Tom continued, “I’ve been around him over the years, obviously.” Additionally, Tom said that the rest of his cast knew of Jax’s drug usage.

3

Lala Kent Was “Proud” Of Jax, But Isn’t A Huge Fan Of His

Lala Kent Has Been Sober Since 2018 After Her Journey With Cutting Out Alcohol From Her Life

The same day that Jax revealed his addiction to cocaine and having been over 80 days sober, Lala Kent issued a statement on an Amazon Live stream. She shared that she was “incredibly proud” of her former VPR co-star.

“It’s a very, very delicate subject. I myself have been in a program for six years, four months and some change. Sobriety for someone, it’s not one size fits all. Everyone has a different level of addiction, but addiction is addiction.”

“I want to say that I am very proud of him, whether I dig him or not, take all of my personal views of him out of it, let’s just stick to this topic,” she shared.

Lala added, “Your heart feels broken but there’s so much hope in sobriety, so that’s what I’m feeling for him, very, very hopeful and excited to see what his future holds if he chooses down that path.” Lala is close with Brittany, so her slight dig at him isn’t anything new.

Lala has been extremely open about her own road to sobriety after giving up alcohol in 2018. In an Instagram post where she shared a photo of herself with her daughter Ocean, who is seen holding her little sister, Sosa, the reality TV star wrote, “I’m 6 years sober today. Thank you, God 🙏💕🎂.”

4

Scheana Shay Called Jax’s Drug Use “The Worst-Kept Secret”

Scheana Shay Claimed “Everyone Knew” About Jax’s Cocaine Use And It Was Even Accidentally Seen On VPR

On the March 7th episode of her Scheananigans podcast, former VPR star Scheana Shay wanted to make it clear that “everyone knew” about Jax’s cocaine addiction. “That would be the worst-kept secret if we didn’t know,” she spilled. “Everyone knew Jax did cocaine. That was not a secret.”

In fact, the recent The Masked Singer contestant revealed that during Jax and Brittany’s wedding episode in Season 8, viewers could clearly see “a plate of coke that was just like on the table.”

However, Scheana did want to clarify that while filming the show, the production seemed unaware of his drug use. “I think they didn’t notice. That would have never made it to air. But it has to go through editing and through so many people. But I just don’t think anyone was looking at the little plate on the table.”

Scheana also believed his addiction played a factor in him getting fired from VPR after Season 8.

In Jax’s interview, he also addressed that production did not know he was addicted to cocaine. However, they did address his excessive drinking. “I would go off on my own. We would film a scene and you have 30 minutes [of] downtime, so most people go rest. I would go to a bar, get lit or go next door from SUR, and that’s where we all went because we weren’t allowed to drink during scenes,” he admitted.

Vanderpump Rules

Release Date

January 7, 2013

Writers

Alex Baskin, Douglas Ross, Lisa Vanderpump