Brittany Cartwright is enjoying her single-girl summer. The Bravo star announced her separation from Jax Taylor on the February 29 episode of their podcast When Reality Hits, less than a month before The Valley premiered. At the time, viewers were shocked by the split but after watching Season 1 of The Valley, the separation made more sense. On the series, Brittany admitted she and Jax were rarely intimate, confessing she wondered if he was still attracted to her. Now that Brittany has had space to become her own woman, she’s blossomed.
Here are the ways Brittany is thriving in her separation from Jax:
Brittany Cartwright stopped throwing up
Brittany’s stomach issues were a major plot line on The Valley. The 35-year-old has been open about having a weak stomach due to issues with a stomach ulcer in the past. On the show, Jax attributed his wife’s sickness to her alcohol consumption. He scolded her for getting sick, telling her she needed to act like a mom and stop drinking so much.
“If you can’t handle your alcohol then you stop f*cking drinking. Throwing up? What are you in college? You’re a mom,” he said.
She spoke about how Jax’s words affected her in a May episode, telling her co-stars she felt drained by her husband.
“He does this to me all the time. He always puts me down,” she shared. “I feel like Jax is sucking the life out of me. He is sucking away all my sparkle. How much more of this can I possibly take?”
Well, it looks like Brittany’s stomach issues have improved greatly since filming wrapped. In May, Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay revealed that Brittany has not been sick since she separated from Jax.
“I know just from talking to Brittany, she says that she has not thrown up once since they separated, whether drinking or not,” she said on the May 24 episode of her podcast Scheananigans. “I think it was stress-induced when she broke out in hives like her body was having a physical reaction.”
She has the support of her girls
Scheana has been #TeamBrittany since the split. She voiced her concerns about Jax’s behavior on the Vanderpump Rules: After Show
“With Jax, I feel like there is a different, monstrous side of him that comes out, and from what I heard from my friends on [The Valley], he said some very unkind things to Brittany, which I’m not OK with,” she said. ““It makes me think that he hasn’t changed, and he hasn’t grown.”
Kristen Doute has also shared her support for Brittany. At The Valley premiere in March, she told E! News she was “proud” of her friend for setting boundaries with Jax. She added that it was Jax’s responsibility to fix the issues in their marriage, not Brittany’s.
Brittany Cartwright knows what she deserves
In a March interview with Page Six, Brittany shared why she chose to separate from Jax. She explained that she felt taken for granted in the marriage.
“We’ve been together nine years, and people stop appreciating and take you for granted after some time — and that should never happen in a marriage,” she said.
She also spoke about their lack of intimacy, telling the outlet she reached a breaking point.
“I think I just had to be like, ‘I’m hot as hell, and I’m not going to listen to this bullsh*t anymore’,” she said.
She is loving her space
Brittany is loving her newfound independence. During an April appearance on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, she told host Amanda Hirsch she’s loving the time away.
“I’m loving my space,” she said. “I feel really glad about my space and not being with him right now…He would have to do a lot of work to change my mind.”
In the interview, she said she has become much stronger in the last few years. She referenced Jax’s infamous hookup with Faith Stowers on VPR, telling Amanda she would’ve reacted differently if that situation happened today.
“I forgave so much in our relationship,” she said. “I know I’ve gotten so much stronger because if that were to happen to now, there is no way in hell I would stay with him.”
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