The contentious divide between Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright has grown deeper.
Days after Cartwright, 37, was granted a temporary restraining order against Taylor, 47, the original Vanderpump Rules cast member asked a judge to grant no-contact, stay-away and no-abuse orders against his estranged wife, whom he married in 2019.
Taylor’s Aug. 31 legal request, obtained by E! News, was filed “in opposition to the Request for Domestic Violence Restraining Order filed by Petitioner Brittany Nicole Cartwright,” while simultaneously requesting his own domestic violence restraining order.
TheHouse of Villains alum (real name Jason Cauchi) contended that his ex’s Aug. 27 request should be denied because “her recent allegations describe co-parenting friction and protected responses to her own public attacks, not abuse.”
“Since Brittany and I separated in January 2024, she has made me the target of relentless public and private attacks,” Taylor, who shares son Cruz Cauchi, 5, with Cartwright, alleged in the document. “Within the past six months in particular these attacks have taken on a viciousness that has become intolerable.”
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Jax Taylor Responds to Brittany Cartwright Getting Temporary Restraining Order
In addition to the Michigan native—who says he is 600 days sober and in therapy—claiming his ex has labeled him “an abuser” using “malicious lies,” the petition asserts that Cartwright has cost Taylor jobs by allegedly “contacting potential employers and partners and threatening them with public admonishment or worse” in over six instances.
These alleged opportunities include a spot on Fox Network’s upcoming season of Special Forcesfor $175,000 and his ongoing $5000 per month holding agreement for The Valley, which Taylor claims Cartwright has threatened by allegedly refusing to film with him in the future. (He announced he was stepping away from The Valley, which recently aired its third season, after season two in 2025.)
“I was shocked to learn fromd my cancellation,” Taylor alleged regarding being cut from Special Forces the day before leaving for filming around April 2026. “It is my understanding that she contacted Fox and chastised them for hiring me and ‘giving a platform to an abuser.'”
Aside from lost income, the restaurateur also alleged the Kentucky native “has been grossly negligent with our 5-year-old autistic son,” adding that “she pushes me away, telling me she is ‘handling everything.'”
In the documents, he described being “denied precious time with my son because of Brittany’s lies and manipulations” following a failure to produce a drug test in 24 hours during a trip with girlfriend Lori Krebs, which resulted in a lost visitation with Cruz.
E! News has reached out to Taylor and Cartwright for comment, but has not yet heard back.
Meanwhile, in her own TRO request, Cartwright said she required protection because Taylor allegedly “exhibited a pattern of coercive control, financial abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, gaslighting and even physical violence perpetrated upon me.”
“Respondent has threatened to ‘gut me like a fish,’ threatened to kill me, physically attacked me,” her declaration continued, also noting verbal abuse occurred, including Taylor allegedly using names like “bitch,” “c–t,” “w—e” and “fatty” while their child was present.
These latest developments add to a series of ongoing conflicts between the former reality TV couple. Read on for a breakdown of everything that has happened since Taylor and Cartwright’s 2024 breakup.
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“This isn’t my first time being caught cheating,” Jax admitted at the time as the drama played out on Vanderpump Rules. “In the past, I’ve gone through months and months of deny, deny, deny, and that didn’t work for me.”
But while a devasted Brittany broke up with him, they got back together months later and eventually wed in 2020.
“Yes, marriages in general are very hard and I’ve had a particularly rough year this past year,” the Kentucky native shared on their When Reality Hits podcast. “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’m taking one day at a time,” Brittany added. “I don’t know what the future holds, but right now my focus is on being the best mom to Cruz.”
“I don’t feel like he’s attracted to me, we don’t have sex ever,” Brittany admitted in the March 11 preview before Jax added, “It’s so hard to be married sometimes.”
Plus, costar Janet Caperna teased in the clip, “There’s a rumor about Jax cheating online.”
“We’re just having a little communication issues right now. That’s all, there’s nothing else,” he exclusively told E! News March 14 at The Valley premiere party. “There’s no cheating. There’s no infidelity anywhere. It’s just communication. I know it’s shocking, but people sometimes just don’t get along and that’s life.”
“We see each other every single day,” he added. “The only thing that’s different is we just don’t sleep under the same roof. That’s it.”
“We got into a very bad fight and I decided to pack up my stuff,” the 35-year-old exclusively told E! News March 18, “and I’ve been staying in an Airbnb since January 24.”
“I’m doing it for my mental space,” she added, “and I feel very strong with my decision to get out for a while.”
“He’s no. 1 and we both agree on that,” Jax told E!. “It’s about knowing he’s got two loving parents that love him to death and he’s gonna have the best life possible, whether we are together or not.”
As for their increased fighting, Brittany agreed, “I just don’t want that for our son. I don’t want him growing up thinking it’s normal to live like that.”
“I don’t think anybody will ever love Jax the way I’ve loved Jax,” Brittany told E!. “Over all these years, I’ve been through so much with him and I’m stuck by his side through everything. So I think that if he makes certain changes that I’ve asked, maybe we could get back together. But right now, I just really need to figure out myself. I felt really strong and really proud of myself for being able to step out and do what’s right for me. My mental health is super important.”
“Everybody predicted that when they got married,” the Real Housewives alum shared with E!. “They said, ‘Oh this won’t last long,’ but I kind of never liked to draw conclusions.”
“I don’t know what the reason was,” she added, “but I imagine it was probably something to do with Jax’s bad behavior. I’m not sure, but the indicator of future behavior is normally past behavior.”
“I’m proud of Brittany for setting boundaries for making the choice for her,” Kristen admitted. “But I’m very hopeful that they can work this out. But that’s on Jax, that’s not on her.”
As costar Kristen Doute recounted, “Does he say, ‘I know I treat you like s—t. ‘I know I’m mean. I know I’ve called you fat and I’ve told you you’re f–king lazy and that you’re not going to have any friends if you guys break up?'”
The VPR alum mainly credited son Cruz as the reason he saught professional help.
“Working on getting better for you buddy,” Jax wrote in an Instagram post July 31 alongside a photo of him planting a kiss on the little one’s cheek. “I love you.”
Though Jax confirmed in his filing that he and Brittany wed in June 2019, he also checked a box on the document reading, “Respondent contends that the parties never legally married or registered in a domestic partnership.”
His rep later told E! News, “While Jax made errors in filing out forms that are usually done by trained legal professionals, those errors will be amended without delay.”
“We are legally married,” she commented on E! News’ Instagram post about Jax’s response snafu. “I’m guessing paperwork is hard for some people.”
“We did not have a no dating in the friend group policy,” she told Bravo’s Hot Mic Nov. 11. “We never spoke about that because why would we? First off, I didn’t think I was going to hook up with his friend. It wasn’t planned. I wasn’t trying to go after one of his friends. That’s not how it happened.”
As for while she chose to move on with someone in the friend group?
“It was somebody that I felt like I knew and in our world,” she added. “It’s so crazy because, like, how do you trust people? And I was single for the first time in L.A.”
“I don’t think I would have been bothered by it if it was somebody else that I didn’t know,” he told Bravo’s Hot Mic Nov. 14. “I want her to meet somebody, just not somebody I know.”
He also recounted finding out Brittany was sending Julian naked photos, adding, “I caught her in a couple of lies.”
Brittany’s repsonse?
“I pray that one day he completely knocks this addiction, but I’m skeptical,” she said in a statement at the time. “His behaviors are still alarming and his treatment plan seems to be the bare minimum. I’m trying to navigate this as best as I can for my son and I, but every day is still a challenge and very difficult. Jax has caused an enormous amount of damage and I have very little trust in him at this point. My only hope is that one day, he will be a better person for his son.”
“She has someone in her life that’s really amazing that I am head over heels for,” The Valley star Kristen Doute told People. “She’s dated people during her single years since her ex-husband, and I have not approved of them. They’ve been fine, but not wonderful. This person is very wonderful and very cool. Very family-feeling.”
Kristen also shared that Brittany’s new man is also a parent, which provides their relationship with even more welcome commonality.
“He’s a dad, so it makes it really easy,” she explained, “a lot easier and understandable.”
