Reality star Brittany Cartwright files for divorce from Jax Taylor after his stay at mental health facility

The Vanderpump Rules TV personality, aged 35, officially filed the divorce documents on Tuesday (August 27), in legal documents seen by MailOnline. She gave irreconcilable differences as her reason for ending the marriage.

Cartwright and Taylor, who is ten years his former-spouse’s senior, had their relationship documented on hit reality show Vanderpump Rules. Their 2019 marriage was filmed for the show - but now it’s all over. Cartwright cited their date of separation as Wednesday January 24. 

The estranged couple share three-year-old son Cruz, who was born in 2021. Cartwright has requested primary legal and physical custody over the little boy, however is open to visitation rights for her ex-husband. Additionally, Cartwright is seeking to block the ability of the court to award either one of them with spousal support.

The filing comes days after 45-year-old Taylor left a mental health facility. A representative for Taylor previously told Us Weekly he was set to finish using the service last week.

The TV star shared a glamorous photo of herself on Instagram yesterday (Wednesday August 29) as she moved on from her marriage. The image was captioned: “Getting my sparkle back.” It comes four days after she also posted more images of herself all dressed up with the caption: “Out with the old, in with the new”.

The couple's romance was captured on Vanderpump Rules and then the breakdown of their marriage was shown on the spin-off show, The Valley. In scenes which aired on the show, Cartwright revealed she had moved out their marital home with son Cruz.

In a piece to camera in the final episode, she said: “A lot has happened with me and Jax. We were already having issues all summer long, but once the cameras stopped rolling, things just seemed like they were getting worse and worse and worse.

“So about six weeks ago, I separated from Jax. I moved into an AirBnb with Cruz because Jax would not leave the house.” She added that she left because the situation at home was “toxic”, saying that Taylor was as “mean as a snake” after he had been drinking.

“I just hit this point where I just started noticing everything that he did to me. It just hit me like a ton of bricks,” she added. She went on to allege that during their relationship Taylor cheated on her, disrespected her and humiliated her.

“I have been through a lot of pain in this relationship,' she said. 'I just can't deal with it anymore.”

Following their separation, Cartwright gave an exclusive interview to MailOnline in which she said that herslef and Taylor had been having issues for years before they actually split up.

She explained how Cruz’s birth marked a turning point for her in 2021. “Having a child really woke me up and lifted a veil a little bit of what I deserve and what I am going to put up with for the rest of my life,' she said. “And I just knew that I had to . .. figure out what I want to do for my future and make things a super positive living situation for my son. That's all that I care about.'

She also said she and her former husband have discussed dating other people now they have separated, saying “I don't want to be unhappy for the rest of my life”.

In an interview with Us Weekly, Cartwright also opened up about how the couple’s sex life had “dwindled so much” in recent years and which began to affect her self esteem.

“I felt like I wasn't good enough. If you start to feel like your partner doesn't want you and they're also being mean to you, it's like, 'What am I doing here?' I'm basically living with a roommate. I hit my breaking point,” she said.

She then claimed that when she tried to speak to Taylor about their lack of intimacy, he blamed his age and told her “I'm tired”, but that she thought the answer wasn’t good enough.

Cartwright also admitted that the couple came under financial strain when they were fired from Vanderpump Rules in 2020, and that contributed to issues in their marriage. “It was definitely a difficult time in our relationship,” she said.

Last month however, on an episode of his and Cartwright's When Reality Hits podcast, Taylor insisted he and Cartwright were still, “trying to exhaust everything” before actually divorcing.

“I am not, I repeat not, dating anybody,” he said. “Obviously, Brittany and I are separated and have been for a long time. What we are going through right now is tough. Marriage is not easy.”

He continued: “We are trying to figure out a lot of different things: therapy, separation, and maybe, possibly, dating other people. We are trying to exhaust everything before we have to go down the divorce road . . . Part of taking some time apart means exploring other people. All marriages are different, but this is what is good for our marriage.”

Cartwright and Taylor had been together for nine years overall and married for five. Their relationship had seen many ups and downs, however. The pair first separated in 2017, two years after they first started dating, when it was revealed that Taylor had cheated on Cartwright with their Vanderpump Rules co-star Faith Stowers.

They got engaged in 2018, and married at the Kentucky Castle in the Cartwright's home state the following June before welcomed their son Cruz on April 12 2021. Cartwright said she previously “stuck by him” through their difficult times, but said continuous fighting in front of their young son was the final straw which caused her to end the relationshop for good.

Cartwright and Taylor are currently starring in the Vanderpump Rules spin-off The Valley.