Jax Taylor Vows To Never 'Touch Drugs And Alcohol Again' Amid Fan Backlash Over His Role On 'The Valley'
By Jacquez Printup on July 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM EDT
"The Valley" star Jax Taylor is continuing on his sobriety journey and recently revealed that he's "feeling great" after a profound shift in his lifestyle. In fact, the Bravo personality told addiction recovery expert Richard Taite that attending meetings over the last several months has completely changed his mindset regarding the two substances he said make him feel "disgusting."
Jax Taylor Declares He'll Never 'Touch Alcohol Or Drugs' Again During A Conversation With An Addiction Recovery Expert
Taylor, whose often-unhinged behavior has been a staple on "Vanderpump Rules" and now "The Valley," recently revealed to fans that he had struggled with an addiction to cocaine for over two decades. During season 2 of "The Valley," however, the father of one checked into a health facility, and according to him, it changed his perspective on drugs and alcohol forever.
In a new episode of Taite's podcast, "We're Out Of Time," the reality star villain, who's also going through a contentious divorce from estranged wife Brittany Cartwright, revealed he no longer has the urge to get drunk like he once did.
"I know for a fact — and I know you’re not supposed to say it — but I know for a fact I will not touch drugs and alcohol again,” Taylor told Taite, according to PEOPLE. “I know that. I have no interest in it. I’m not triggered by it.“
Taylor's recent statements follow widespread fan backlash, with many viewers calling for his firing over what they characterized as his abusive on-screen behavior.
Jax Taylor Has A New Outlook On Life
Taylor further stated that with a clear mind, he now looks back on old behavior and questions what he was doing. "'Why didn't I stop this years ago?'" he recalled asking himself.
Taylor, 45, also revealed that his sober support system has helped him tremendously, explaining, "I want to make it very clear, I'm not going to ever stop going to AA for the rest of my life."
"I love it. It’s like a drug to me," he continued. "I love going and meeting the guys. My sober friends, I’ve shifted from my drunk friends, now I have a sober group of friends. We have a great time. We go out to dinner."
Taylor Has Formed Meaningful Connections With People Through Sober Meetings
In a recent episode of "The Valley," Taylor told co-star Kristen Doute that he hadn't been happy since before his son, Cruz, was born in 2021.
"Don't you want to be?" Doute asked, to which Taylor replied, "I would kill to be happy. I hate waking up miserable."
"What about me?" he added. "Nobody checks in on me ... I just don't feel like [Cartwright] cares about me."
Based on his conversation with Taite, however, Taylor seems to be in a healthier headspace, boasting about how much his sober friends "care about me."
“They check in: ‘How you doing?’ We go out to dinners earlier," he said. "We go home earlier. I allow myself to go out; I give myself a 45-minute window. Usually, when I see my friends on drink number two, I'm gone. I just don't like being around it anymore, because to me it's disgusting. I just don't like it.”
Jax Taylor Cried While Watching The Premiere Of 'The Valley'
Taylor's journey to a better place has not been without its challenges, however. In April 2025, he told Bravo co-star Tom Schwartz that watching the season 2 premiere of "The Valley" was particularly difficult due to his on-screen behavior.
"I did watch it. I sat in the corner and I cried my eyes out. I was so disgusted about what I saw, about that shell of a human being that I was looking at, about how I acted," Taylor said, according to The Blast.
"It was just utter disgust. And, you know, I looked at it like, 'Wow. I'm glad I watched this because I never wanna be that person again,'" he explained.
Taylor Says He Was In A Different Place While Filming Season 2
It took some convincing from the show's producers for Taylor to watch the premiere. "I was calling the producers. I'm like, 'Should I watch this? Should I watch this?' Then I'm like, 'I don't wanna watch this,'" he recalled. "They're like, 'Jax, listen. It was a year ago. The show was shot a year ago."
According to Taylor, he was in a "different place" when they shot "The Valley" over a year ago, to which Schwartz replied, congratulating Taylor on the "growth" he's shown.
"And I will say, just for the audience, it's significant that Jax has watched an episode because I don't think he watched one episode of 'Vanderpump Rules' in the history of the show," Schwartz added.
