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Jax Taylor has left The Valley. 

The Vanderpump Rules spinoff returned to Bravo for its third season on April 1, and the premiere made it clear that the controversial cast member was out of the picture with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment early in the episode. 

Jax Taylor stepped away from ‘The Valley’ after season 2 

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The Valley Season 3 opens with a shot of Jax’s bar in Studio City. The footage shows workers removing the bar’s massive “Jax’s” sign from the front of the building via ropes. The fixture then unceremoniously drops to the ground and falls over as the music cuts out. A poster advertising The Valley can still be seen on the side of the building. 

The scene was an unmistakable dig at Jax, who exited the reality show after a tumultuous season 2, which focused on the end of his marriage to his wife, Brittany Cartwright (with whom he shares a 4-year-old son, Cruz), his struggles with sobriety, and his anger issues. 

“After an incredibly challenging year and many honest conversations with my team and producers, I’ll be stepping away from the next season of The Valley,” Jax said in a July 2025 statement. “Right now, my focus needs to be on my sobriety, my mental health, and coparenting. Taking this time is necessary for me to become the best version of myself – especially for our son, Cruz.”

Soon after, he confirmed that he’d ended his partnership with his namesake sports bar, which opened in October 2023. 

“I’ve made the decision to end my partnership with Jax’s,” he wrote on Instagram (via Bravo). “It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right one. Right now, my focus is on my sobriety and mental health, and staying connected to my bar is no longer in line with the priorities I’ve set for myself and the life I’m working towards.”

Jax Taylor felt like a ‘scapegoat’ in ‘The Valley’ Season 2

Although Jax acknowledged that he needed to step away from filming, he’s also said that he feels he didn’t get a fair shake in The Valley Season 2. 

“I feel like certain cast members were pulling the wool …  over your eyes on certain things,” he said on the July 24 episode of his In the Mind of Jax Taylor podcast, adding that he felt “frustrated” and “angry” as a result. 

“I feel like sometimes they use me as a shield. They kind of, you know, and they use me as a scapegoat, you know, just put the blame on me sometimes for things that I can’t even control.”

Jax also indicated he was hoping he might be able to return to Bravo once his life was more stable. 

“It does obviously hurt that I have to step away,” he said, adding that trying to film at this point “would be a disaster.”

“Who knows when or if I come back,” he continued. “Maybe towards the end of the season, maybe next season, who knows?

Brittany Cartwright looks forward to her life post-divorce

While Jax and Bravo have parted ways, Brittany is still part of The Valley. In the premiere, she celebrated moving forward after the end of her troubled marriage to her Vanderpump Rules costar. 

“It is a brand new year and a brand new me,” she told a producer. “Things are so much better than the last time you saw me.”

Brittany isn’t fully free of Jax just yet. The couple are “still not divorced” because he “hasn’t sent in all his paperwork,” she explained. But as she waits to finalized the split, she’s focused on her next chapter. 

“I’m finally putting myself first,” she said. “I’m happy and it’s about damn time.” 

The Valley Season 3 airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock. 

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