Brittany Cartwright is ready for her next chapter after filing for divorce from estranged husband Jax Taylor.
Shortly after Us Weekly confirmed Cartwright, 35, filed for divorce from Taylor, 45, on Tuesday, August 27, after five years of marriage, The Valley star took to social media to share a message about entering her next era.
“Getting my sparkle back,” she captioned a glamorous photo of herself wearing a bright pink dress.
Many of Cartwright’s fans and famous friends rallied in the comments to send their support. “Shine on,” former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, who is in the middle of her own divorce from Bryan Abasolo, commented. Nia Sanchez, who stars alongside Cartwright and Taylor on The Valley, added, “Yes!! Love you queen Britt,” while her former Vanderpump Rules costar Scheana Shay gushed, “Shining bright, baby.”
Cartwright’s filing comes after the couple has been navigating their bumpy relationship since early this year. In February, they confirmed they were living separately as they figured out their next steps.
Per the docs obtained by Us on Tuesday, Cartwright listed their official date of separation as January 24. She cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their divorce. She is seeking primary legal and physical custody of their 3-year-old son, Cruz, with visitation for Taylor. Cartwright does not want the court to award spousal support to either of them.
The divorce filing comes days after Taylor finished a 30-day in-patient treatment for his “mental health struggles.” His rep told Us in a statement, “Jax has spent the last 30 days in treatment and will be heading back home later this week. It’s been an emotional month for him and he’s most looking forward to spending time with his son.”
Fans will likely see the demise of their marriage on-screen, as Bravo cameras are currently filming season 2 of The Valley.
Cartwright and Taylor’s relationship has experienced many ups and downs over the years. The former couple met during a trip to Las Vegas in 2015, and Cartwright joined Taylor on season 4 of Pump Rules the following year. The duo went on to have their own spinoff show, Vanderpump Rules: Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky, which aired in August 2017.
Despite a past cheating scandal with VPR costar Faith Stowers, Cartwright and Taylor patched up their relationship and got engaged in June 2018. They wed in June 2019 and ultimately left Vanderpump Rules in 2020.
Returning to The Valley proved to show some cracks in their relationship, and Cartwright exclusively told Us in April what would be the final push to make her file for divorce.
“He needs to go to therapy. He doesn’t need to be staying out at the bar all the time. He needs to respect me more and stop taking me for granted,” she told Us at the time. “I was the closest person to him and was kind of like his punching bag. He was always giving me jabs. I can’t deal with that for the rest of my life.”
She continued, “But I won’t waste my time and get back into a toxic situation. Now the veil has been lifted and I see how much I was always cleaning up Jax’s messes. I’m thrown in the middle of all these fights and constantly forced to apologize for him in the media and to friends. It’s hard.”
