Vanderpump Rules alum and The Valley star has filed for divorce from after five years of marriage, Us Weekly can confirm.
Per the docs obtained by Us, 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.
Taylor and Cartwright alluded to difficulties in their marriage earlier this year before officially confirming a separation.
“I think that we will have to address some rumors — just a little bit. I’m not going to go too hard on this because, you know, some people do deserve to have their privacy,” Cartwright said during a February episode of their joint “When Reality Hits” podcast. “But I will say — marriage is hard and people go through ups and downs all the time and it’s completely normal. Sometimes people might need their space [and] sometimes they won’t.”
Days later, Cartwright noted on the podcast that she moved into another residence while she and Taylor “are taking time apart.”
“Marriages are very hard and I had a particularly rough year,” she said on February 29. “Jax and I are taking time apart and I made the decision to move into another home to take some space for the sake of my mental health. I won’t get into too many details right now because this is still really hard to talk about.”
Cartwright and Taylor’s separation took place weeks before their reality TV return. The Valley, a spinoff of Vanderpump Rules, premieres on Bravo in March and follows their suburban life with son Cruz, 2.
The former couple met in Las Vegas at the Gold Spike Lounge in 2015. “The place it all started! @caramarietabor and I met @musickillskate, and then @mrjaxtaylor swooped in and got my number at the bar. Lol memories!” Cartwright captioned a photo outside of the bar via her Instagram Stories in July 2019.
In 2016, Cartwright joined Taylor on season 4 of Vanderpump Rules. The duo went on to have their own spinoff show, Vanderpump Rules: Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky, which aired in August 2017. Four months later, however – during the season 6 premiere of Vanderpump Rules that December – fans watched as Cartwright learned of Taylor’s affair with costar. Stowers exclusively told Us Weekly at the time that she and Taylor only hooked up once — though she claimed he wanted it to be an “ongoing thing.”
Despite Taylor and Cartwright’s challenges, the pair got engaged in June 2018. One year later in June 2019, they walked down the aisle at a castle in Kentucky with Lance Bass officiating the ceremony.
Following their wedding, Bravo viewers watched as Taylor questioned their marriage on the show, wondering if they tied the knot too suddenly. “I’m thinking about my wedding, it was just so quick,” Taylor asked on a March 2020 episode of Vanderpump Rules. “Did I do the right thing?”
Although fans wondered if their marriage was in trouble, the duo soon took the next step in their relationship, revealing in September 2020 that they were expecting their first child, a baby boy.
Three months later, the couple announced that they would not be returning to Vanderpump Rules for another season.
“We are excited to take this time to focus on our growing family and share with you our new endeavors,” Cartwright wrote via Instagram at the time. “It’s time to move on … we had a good run. It doesn’t make sense anymore.”
Taylor and Cartwright welcomed their son, Cruz, in April 2021.
“I don’t think I have been as happy as I am right now, everything else in life seems so insignificant now,” Taylor captioned their baby boy’s Instagram debut that same month. “I am crying just writing this message. I have the most beautiful son a man could ask for, he’s an absolute blessing from God. I just want to say how absolutely amazing my wife has been through this whole process, it has not been an easy pregnancy for her, but she did an absolutely amazing job all the way till the end. I have always been in awwh [sic] of Brittany but I fell in love with her all over again.”
