After five years of marriage, Brittany Cartwright filed for divorce from Jax Taylor yesterday, citing irreconcilable differences as the cause for the split. She listed the date of separation as January 24, 2024, which makes sense, considering the explosive finale of The Valley culminated with Brittany leaving their marital home with their son, Cruz. I wrote more about their initial separation here.

 

For long time fans of Vanderpump Rules who have followed the couple’s journey since they began dating in 2015, getting engaged in 2018 and marrying in 2019, I can see how this could possibly come as a surprise. But for anyone tuning into the first season of The Valley, this was not a surprise at all, despite Jax parading around his friend group saying that Brittany would “never” leave him.

While it can be tough to watch a marriage fall apart, I think there are a lot of people celebrating this announcement for a few reasons. The first is that Brittany is a very well-liked person in the Bravoverse and Jax was absolutely awful to her. And the second is the many ways in which this new development will bolster the storylines for the next season of The Valley, with this announcement making it a contender to be one of Bravo’s top shows because of the complexity of the issues it will now be documenting. 

 

Brittany was first introduced to us when Jax essentially had her pack up and move her life away from her close-knit family and hometown in Kentucky to Los Angeles. He sprung her on Lisa Vanderpump, asking that she give Brittany a job because she could earn more at one of her establishments than she could serving tables at Hooters. He bought her a pair of implants and the rest is history.

None of those things sound especially egregious – and to be clear, that’s not where things started to go downhill. It started around the time Jax cheated on Brittany with Faith Stowers and lied about it until he was blue in the face. It was a contentious thing that had ripple effects for years to come. 

While Jax’s friend group rallied around Brittany, and even encouraged her to leave him, it was in her staying that we realized how much she truly loved him – despite how questionable and emotionally dangerous that was. Over the next few years, we watched on as they worked through their issues, with Jax going to therapy and at times appearing to be maturing into a better man.

 

Jax’s proposal was a cause for celebration. So was their marriage – unless you were James Kennedy, who rightfully predicted that Jax would be Brittany’s first husband:

They did what a lot of married couples do – they packed up, moved to a house they bought in the suburbs and had a baby. And for a while, their marriage seemed to be going strong,  with so many people blown away that they had outlasted the marriage of Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz and the relationship of Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval, both couples who had also bought homes together and seemed to be in it for the long haul.

 

But when this season of The Valley aired, fans saw that maybe Jax hadn’t changed at all. He snapped at Brittany for small things, berating her on camera, pushing people to wonder what he said and did off camera. Her self-esteem had taken a dive over the physical changes in her body after carrying and giving birth to Cruz, and Jax was out of the house a lot trying to build his bar (which has horrible reviews, btw).

That’s part of what made the premiere season of The Valley so intriguing. Fans were getting a closeup look at their married life, which included helping their son through speech therapy, dealing with a lack of intimacy, and so many other real issues married couples go through. 

So you can’t help but wonder what all of this means for the upcoming season. The first season ended with two major separations – the one between Jax and Brittany, and the one between Jesse Lally and Michelle Saniei. But because the separations were so fresh, we never got to see any of these individuals navigate the dating scene, something we may get to witness this time around.

 

While Jax was in treatment, Brittany was seen spending time with Bachelor Nation’s Tanner Courtad, who appeared on Charity Lawson’s season of The Bachelorette. My personal read on this is that Brittany was probably able to exhale in a way she hadn’t been able to with Jax away. And the clarity his absence may have provided her is what finally gave her the boost she needed to file those papers.

And for anyone questioning why she would be dating while her husband was away seeking mental health treatment, let’s not forget that rumours about Jax dating the couple’s publicist started swirling well before this, with Brittany unfollowing both him and their publicist after the two were photographed looking more like a couple than two people in a professional working relationship. 

There are two things that stand out the most to me about this divorce filing. The first was the alcohol delivery that Brittany received after returning home from the courthouse. If you recall, throughout the season, Jax berated Brittany every time she took even the smallest sip of alcohol because of how sick she would get. It got to the point where she asked the group to lie to Jax about her drinking because she couldn’t put up with his lectures. With this delivery, it’s as if she was giving him a big fat middle finger and was ready to enjoy her tequila again. 

 

But the second thing that stands out to me is this photo captioned, “Getting my sparkle back.”

It took a lot for Brittany to file for divorce. She is a southern belle from a deeply religious family. Divorce isn’t something she believes in. But I think there were a few things that pushed her to this point. The first being matrescence. I’ve written about it time and time again, and I think it absolutely played a role in her building the strength to walk away. Wanting better for herself and better for her son – which is no dig to Jax’s parenting because by all accounts he seems to be a good dad, but being a good dad doesn’t make you a good partner. 

And the second? Seeing her marriage on TV. I wholeheartedly believe that part of the reason so many couples on reality shows divorce is because they get to watch themselves, almost from an outsider’s perspective – and it’s not always pretty, especially in Brittany’s case.

Brittany is getting her sparkle back, as so many women do after a split from a toxic partner. You can see it in her photos, just like you can if you look through Michelle’s Instagram page. Sure, social media doesn’t give us the whole picture, but from what I’m seeing, both women look happier and healthier. And I cannot wait to see that sparkle in full effect on the next season ofThe Valley. 

Photo credits: Christopher Polk/ Variety via Getty Images

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