Jax Taylor offers groveling apology for behavior on The Valley as fans begin petition to get him booted off show
After a whole season of questionable and controversial behavior on The Valley, Jax Taylor offered numerous groveling apologies on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live.
The 45-year-old reality star from Vanderpump Rules and now The Valley appeared alongside his former VPR co-star Tom Schwartz on Tuesday's episode of WWHL.
Host Andy Cohen even began the episode by acknowledging that many people weren't happy that he was on the show in the first place, including Kristen Doute.
When Andy mentioned that Doute commented that she didn't believe he should be on the show, Jax snidely responded, 'I didn't know she was the boss.'
Many fans of the show agreed as well, with a Change.org petition started on Tuesday entitled, 'Remove Jax Taylor from Television for Offensive Conduct.'
While fans expressed their anger with Jax, the reality star spent the brunt of the episode essentially apologizing for everything, while revealing his biggest 'regret' in his relationship with Brittany Cartwright as well.
Cohen opened the show by asking Jax what he would say to fans who thought he shouldn't be there in the first place, as he issued the first of several apologies.
'First of all, I want to apologize to everybody who is watching this right now. The stuff that was shown is pretty triggering to a lot of people, and I am watching it back, I watched the episode now,' Jax said, as Andy mentioned that was 'a first' since he apparently never watched VPR or The Valley before.
'You watch it back, and I am just utterly embarrassed of my actions. Like I said, nobody should ever have to deal with the way I acted. Nobody should have to deal with, you know, verbal abuse from anybody,' as Cohen added, 'At minimum.'
Jax added, 'Yeah, I'm really sorry that, you know, people had to see all that,' before Andy asked, 'And are you sorry to Britney?"
'Very sorry to Britney, because it was a very, very, very tough year for both of us,' he said, before confirming he is currently, '201 days sober.'
He confirmed that those 201 days represent him getting out of rehab until now, adding that he is currently being drug tested regularly, even though it isn't mandatory.
'I have my therapist do it when I go into therapy, it was a deal. I don't have to do that, legally, but I said, you know what? I want to be held accountable,' Jax said.
He added that, 'Britney has drug tests at the house, she can test me anytime she wants. To be honest with you right now, that is not the issue, I have a lot of other issues.'
Jax admitted his 'ego, anger, control and manipulation' were the things he needed to address the most, though Andy mentioned some thought the rehab place was, 'B.S.' adding it was 'weird' that he had his phone and he was allowed to leave.
'Right. Yeah, I don't make the rules. So, the state of California, they don't allow you to have without your phone for 48 hours. I took advantage of that, but should I have left the phone? Absolutely. But, I needed a control because I am a control freak and I felt like that was my only sense of control,' Jax admitted.
He added the rehab facility was called Psyclarity, when Andy brought him him, 'uncovering the security cameras and spying on Britney.'
'That was, yeah, another one. You know, just, again, just a sense of control. And when you are in this thing -- oh, I am there, we are filming a show. In the back of my head, I am like, I know these things are going on, I know they are talking about me, and I couldn't really lean on my therapy because I knew in the back of my head that they were talking, and there were things going on and I couldn't control except for my phone and the rage text were obviously very inappropriate, but I was looking for something in return, I wanted to see if she cared and that is why I was doing all of that,' Jax admitted.
When Andy asked, 'How do not tell the mother of your child that you stopped paying the mortgage on the home that your kid lives in?'
Jax admitted, 'That was a part of my downfall. This was like, really, when I was in -- I was heavily into drugs and alcohol and just didn't care, I just did not care.'
When asked why he was mad about Brittany hooking up with Julian Sensley when he was unfaithful with her, Jax said, 'I wasn't mad about the fact that she was hooking up, it was my friend. But, then, you know, "Look what I did, with the Kristin situation." So, I am like, I don't really have a leg to stand on, I was just really angry in the beginning, really angry at how fast it was. I look back now, I'm not mad anymore, but in the beginning, I was just so angry.'
When asked about his lies to Janet and Jason about the house mortgage, he said, 'The goal is to give her the RSS fee, that is the equivalent to helping with the mortgage, that was the goal.
He added that their divorce is set to be finalized on July 21, adding that he sees their son Cruz, '2 to 3 times a week, we obviously have different schedules, crazy schedules, so I will take him for a couple days, "Can I have them for the weekend?" That part has been good, I can't complain about that. Hopefully, it stays like that, for now.'
When asked about a story about him going to the hospital, which Brittany heard from Jax's sister while he was spying her her, he said that he had high blood pressure and not a heart attack as previously rumored.
'It was high blood pressure. They were testing me, they were like, "Listen, by law, we have to take you to the hospital, while you go sit on the couch and see if it goes down." It went down. They were like, "Why don't you call Brittany and let them know you are not going?" I said, "No." Again, this was a control thing, I wanted to see if they had a reaction, I wanted to see if they cared, I wanted to see if they would call and say "We are worried about him." I felt like nobody cared about me, nobody comes to see me, I just felt very alone,' Jax admitted.
When Tom Schwartz was asked his reaction to what Jax was saying, he admitted it was, 'one part, pathetic, but another part, brutally honest.'
Schwartz admitted he doesn't think Taylor has changed yet, but he gave him credit for the 201 days of sobriety.
Taylor admitted his, 'biggest regret is not ending this marriage sooner,' adding, 'I think this should have been over a long time ago,' as Cohen mentioned, 'Your biggest regret, maybe should also be how you treated her,' as Taylor admitted, 'Yeah, yeah.'
Many who signed the petition shared their own stories of abuse at the hands of men like Jax, including Andrea from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
'Watching Jax is a straight up trigger for me, I had a panic attack watching the episode tonight. He should not have a platform to make this kind of behavior seem normal. He is disgusting!' she said.
Many fans chimed in on social media as well, including @maxhadid30, who said, '#TheValley #WWHL (The Valley producer) Alex Baskin and Bravo will be complicit when Jax eventually seriously hurts/kills somebody. It's disgusting that Bravo and Alex insist on platforming and enabling a dangerous abuser like Jax Taylor.'
Another X user - @ThrillrErotik - said earlier in the day, 'A reminder to Bravo fans to NOT watch tonight's episode of @BravoWWHL tonight as @Andy and @BravoTV are platforming the abusive Jax Taylor once again! Bravo doubling down on supporting abuse is truly demented!#TheValley #WWHL #vpr #RHOA #BelowDeck.'
Faiza from Ottawa added, 'Jax Taylor should be in jail. Not on our tv screens. What message is bravo sending? That they dont support women and support abusers time and time again? Absolutely disgusting.'
Many fans chimed in on social media as well, including @maxhadid30, who said, '#TheValley #WWHL (The Valley producer) Alex Baskin and Bravo will be complicit when Jax eventually seriously hurts/kills somebody. It's disgusting that Bravo and Alex insist on platforming and enabling a dangerous abuser like Jax Taylor.'
Erin Moon Honey Davies (@erinheartscoco) added, 'It's gross that Jax Taylor is going to be on #WWHL tonight. Why is he still being given a platform? Extremely disappointed by this for many reasons but the #1 is that he hit his wife and #2 is that his child was present for it @Andy @BravoWWHL @NBCUniversal #TheValley
Jumata Emill (@brownboywriting) added, 'So Jax gets awarded a #WWHL appearance after his horrible behavior on #TheValley.'
Another X user - @ThrillrErotik - said earlier in the day, 'A reminder to Bravo fans to NOT watch tonight's episode of @BravoWWHL tonight as @Andy and @BravoTV are platforming the abusive Jax Taylor once again! Bravo doubling down on supporting abuse is truly demented!#TheValley #WWHL #vpr #RHOA #BelowDeck.'
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