Brittany Cartwright is sharing her side of the story on the blowout fight she had with her estranged husband, Jax Taylor, that led to him finally seeking help for his substance abuse issues.
The “Valley” star, 36, said on her “When Reality Hits” podcast Friday that Taylor woke up after a night of partying in November 2024 in a “horrible mood” and began “making her cry” on the way to their son Cruz’s doctor’s appointment. She claimed he had been using drugs the night prior and was hungover.
Cartwright said she had asked Taylor not to tag along for the long car ride, but he insisted and the former couple started arguing first about a bar opening — not another guy, as he recently claimed.
“Before a guy ever texted my phone, he was already at my throat, he was already making me cry and I was in the car for at least 30 minutes at that point,” the mom of one said in the episode.
“We almost pulled over so I could get out and call an Uber and put me and Cruz in an Uber, like, it was bad.”
When another man’s phone number popped up on the GPS screen, Cartwright said of Taylor, “He loses it. He starts trying to grab my phone and Cruz is in the backseat in his car seat — that alone is horrible.”
She recalled him “reaching over,” “grabbing” her phone and yelling “the most despicable things” at her. All the while, Cruz was sitting in the backseat.
Earlier this week, Taylor, 45, admitted on Bravo’s “Hot Mic” podcast, hosted by executive producer Alex Baskin, that he “lost it” and “went crazy in the car” during that fight.
He claimed Cruz was the catalyst for him going to a rehab, saying, “That’s when I knew, ‘S–t, I have a problem. It’s still there.’”
However, Cartwright said it’s “not true” that their son led Taylor to changing his ways, claiming her ex denied he had a problem with addiction that same day.
She noted that after leaving the doctor’s office, she got back home in an Uber, locked the door and called Taylor’s sister, her manager, publicist and Baskin, which could have put her ex’s reality TV job at risk.
“If I hadn’t called all of these people … if his job wasn’t threatened yet again … he would not have went,” Cartwright said. “It was a really, really bad situation.”
The reality star said the day of the confrontation was the “same day” Taylor got into a hit-and-run.
Shortly after, he checked himself into a rehab center — which was different than the mental health center he had been to earlier in the year — but “left early” after only 17 days.
Although Cartwright has said that she is skeptical that her ex will remain sober, she said on her podcast Friday, “No one wants Jax to be better more than I do.
“I tried and tried and tried for years to help this man get better and for us to be a happy family, I was deeply and madly in love with him, there’s no one that can ever deny that. You know? My love was real.”
On Saturday, Taylor took to Instagram to celebrate 100 days of sobriety alongside a photo of him posing and a chart showing he has been clean from both cocaine and alcohol during that timeframe.
He wrote in the caption, “100 days down and the rest of my life to go.”
Cartwright, meanwhile, has been leaning on her friends for support. Earlier this week, she went to her former “Vanderpump Rules” co-star Scheana Shay’s house to watch her on “The Masked Singer.”
“The other day was a really tough one for her, and she’s getting hit from all angles,” Shay, 39, told Page Six in an exclusive interview Thursday.
“I think it was a nice little escape for her last night to just hang out with her friends and have this nice surprise.”
Aside from dealing with Taylor’s addiction, the exes are also in the process of getting a divorce.
Cartwright filed last August after five years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Helpline at 800-662-4357.
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