Bravo fans are getting their drama fix with The Valley as it highlights the tensions between Brittany Cartwright and Jax Taylor, who are now separated. However, there might have been more contributing to the couple’s eventual split that wasn’t captured on camera, and Janet Caperna is dishing on one event in particular that impacted their marriage.
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In an exclusive interview with The Daily Dish, Janet said she saw a change in Brittany — whom Janet has known for seven years since moving to Los Angeles — following a health scare Brittany had at the end of 2023.
“Jax and Brittany had been arguing and not so great for a while, but I kind of thought, ‘This is just kind of their dynamic,” said Janet. “They just bicker; this is just who they are.”
However, according to Janet, Jax’s public reaction to his belief that Brittany suffered a stroke might have been what tipped their four-and-a-half-year marriage over the edge.
Why did Brittany Cartwright break up with Jax Taylor?
“Then I did notice a shift around the holidays with Brittany when I called her, and I mentioned something that Jax had said she had a stroke on the TV, and she didn’t,” Janet said in the interview.
On the December 21, 2023 episode of E!’s House of Villains, Jax told cast members that Brittany “had a small stroke,” though it turned out to be an exaggeration on Jax’s part.
Janet told The Daily Dish it could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and that she called Brittany sometime after Jax backpedaled his claims on their shared podcast, When Reality Hits with Jax and Brittany.
“It was the first time that I really heard her not jump to Jax’s defense and not make excuses for him,” said Janet. “She was, like, ‘I can’t believe this, and I’m sick of him,’ and it was the first time that I was like, ‘Oh, this is a different tone from Brittany.’”
Janet said the former Vanderpump Rules couple decided to separate “shortly after that.”
The parents of one announced their separation after weeks of speculation in February.
Why did Jax claim Brittany had a stroke?
Back in December, Jax told his House of Villains castmates that he received a frightening phone call shortly after he was eliminated from the show.
“I made it out there, and I got a phone call: ‘Here, Jax, take the phone. Your wife’s in the hospital,'” said Jax. “She’s, like, crying on the phone. She’s like, ‘I don’t want you to leave the show, but I just want to let you know I’m in the hospital.'”
Jax said he panicked.
“So, I raced to Cedars, stayed there for two nights, making sure that my wife doesn’t have cancer, doesn’t have spinal issues, doesn’t have M.S.,” Jax continued. “Turns out, she had a small stroke. She’s 33.”
Jax clarified on his and Brittany’s podcast that they “didn’t know what it was,” admitting it was premature of him to make any announcement after discovering his wife’s “stroke-like symptoms.”
“I just assumed it was a stroke,” said Jax. “I obviously didn’t mean it, but it’s what it resembles, so I apologize.”
Brittany previously explained on the recently-rebranded podcast, Balancing Act with Kristen Doute and Luke Broderick, that “out of nowhere,” she experienced numbness in her right arm and leg to the point where she could no longer hold her phone. Brittany called it a “really scary time,” though doctors ruled out M.S. (multiple sclerosis) and a stroke.
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“Everything, thank God, came back clean, so we still don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “But I haven’t had the numbness since that day or anything.”
Does Janet want to see Brittany and Jax back together?
Similar to what Janet said on a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Janet thinks both are better living apart.
“For right now, they seem to be getting along really well and much better living apart than they were together,” she continued to The Daily Dish.
However, in a separate interview with The Daily Dish, Nia Booko said reconciliation for Jax and Brittany may be possible “if Jax changes.”
Watch more on The Valley, airing Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo and streaming the next day on Peacock.
