After coming clean about his cocaine addiction, Jax Taylor hinted that there was more that caused his split from Brittany Cartwright.
During the Thursday, March 13, episode of his “In The Mind of a Man” podcast, Taylor, 45, addressed his recent revelation about being more than 80 days sober, saying, “I don’t really care what anybody thought except for Brittany. To be honest, I just wanted to make sure she was happy.”
Taylor acknowledged it was “probably very hurtful” for Cartwright, 36, to hear.
“She was my only priority. When I was doing that, I wanted to make sure that I was very delicate,” he admitted. “She has gone through the most out of all of this. And I know people are going to reach out to her and possibly applaud her. But there’s the people that don’t and say, ‘Why didn’t you try to get him help sooner?’”
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Earlier this month, Taylor revealed he has substance issues. “I’ve been dealing with this on and off since I was 23 and now I’m 45. There were times where I would stop doing it, but then there were times where I’d go heavy on it,” he said on the “Hot Mic” podcast. “This year was probably the hardest year of my life.”
He continued: “I’m going through a divorce right now, which is extremely difficult. When Brittany and I separated [in 2024], that’s when the addiction got worse. I’ve been doing it for a long time but the addiction got worse during my divorce and during my separation. I literally lost control. I hit rock bottom and I had to go to rehab.”
Cartwright subsequently defended her knowledge of Taylor’s addiction struggles, as well as her attempts to get him help
“His addiction unfortunately has done irreparable damage to my son and I,” Cartwright, who shares 3-year-old son Cruz with Taylor, wrote via Instagram. “I’ve spent years trying to help him. I wish more than anyone I could say how proud I am of him today but I’d be lying. His actions will speak for themselves.”.
The reality star also addressed criticism of her past relationship with Taylor. “And to those asking why I stayed if I knew he had a problem all these years,” she continued. “You can’t help who you fell in love with. I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to get him the help he desperately needed. Unfortunately, I was naive and believed his empty promises and his pleas to change for years.”
Cartwright concluded: “Once you have a child with someone, it’s not easy to leave. It took everything in my power to gather the strength to walk away. For those that have been through similar, you get it. For those that question me … that’s OK. I’m in a much better place now.”
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According to Taylor, Cartwright tried to get him help “for years” — to no avail.
“This is in no way, shape or form her fault at all. She should not be getting any kind of flak for this whatsoever. She’s an amazing mother. She’s an amazing person and she’s a human being and she was pushed. She was pushed to her limits and I don’t blame her,” he added on Thursday. “And there was other things that went on [in the] relationship too, that had nothing to do with drinking and alcohol that she’s still upset about.”
Cartwright seemed to hint at the same offscreen issue on her “When Reality Hits” podcast, saying, “This is horrible, he has not changed. He’s trying to act in public like he’s this mental health advocate and this and that and he’s so much better, and he’s giving all these excuses and doing all these victim mentality things. And I was like, ‘It’s not fair. I am being yelled at, and this is a struggle in my everyday life.’ I was like, ‘Something has to be done.’”
