Jax Taylor is leaving The Valley.
Jax Taylor is leaving The Valley
The troubled reality star has confirmed he won’t be part of the third season of the Bravo show following an “incredibly challenging” year, which saw him split from wife Brittany Cartwright – the mother of his four-year-old son Cruz – and subsequently check into rehab for mental health and addiction treatment.
He told Us Weekly magazine in a statement: “After an incredibly challenging year and many honest conversations with my team and producers, I’ll be stepping away from the next season of The Valley.
“Right now, my focus needs to be on my sobriety, my mental health, and coparenting. Taking this time is necessary for me to become the best version of myself — especially for our son, Cruz.”
Season two of The Valley documented Jax and Brittany’s breakout and the fallout.
Executive producer Alex Baskin previously told Variety: “Our job is to tell the full story.
“If we didn’t tell the story in its completeness, then we would be covering up something that really happened and denying Brittany the chance to share what she had been through. I don’t think that’s really ‘platforming an abuser’ as much as that is platforming the story — which includes Brittany’s experience as well as Jax’s.”
The season two reunion special was recorded in May and is due to air next week, while Alex previously admitted it was “very likely” the show would be different on its return for season three.
The producer noted “no one is guaranteed a job” and said: “We’re figuring out all of it. It’s very likely the show does look different next season, but I don’t know what different means.
“Many times before, we’ve had to make a change based on someone’s behaviour. … We don’t want to be in a situation where we are forcing together people who wouldn’t spend the time together in real life. That can become taxing and difficult to watch.”
Jax previously admitted that he’s been battling a cocaine addiction for more than 20 years.
He said on the Hot Mic podcast: “I have substance issues – primarily with cocaine. It’s hard to say out loud. I’ve been dealing with this on and off since I was 23 and now I’m 45.
“There was times where I would stop doing it but then there were times where I’d go heavy on it.
“I just want to let people know this is a really, really tough disease and it’s a really tough sickness.”
Brittany subsequently claimed that she spent years trying to help Jax to “get better”.
She said on the When Reality Hits podcast: “No one wants Jax to be better more than I do, let’s be real.
“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.”
