The Valley's Brittany Cartwright knew it was time to legally end her marriage to Jax Taylor — but she needed some reassurance (and legal advice) before officially pulling the trigger.
After laying out the separation timeline for her divorce attorney on Season 2, Episode 9, Brittany cited Jax's "blow-ups" and "aggressive" behavior as her main reasons for making the appointment. Her ultimate goal for the meeting was to find out what she could do to "protect" herself once her estranged husband left rehab the following day.
When Brittany showed her lawyer Jax's "rage texts," she asked, "How does he know you're not home?" In response, the mom to 4-year-old Cruz further explained that her ex might have been watching her through their home security cameras.
"That's concerning and disturbing," Brittany's lawyer told her. "This is not healthy for you, and he needs to control himself. This is not good."
Finally, Brittany explained the financial situation surrounding Jax not paying their mortgage, being "like $1.2 million behind" on his taxes, and leasing a condo next door to Tom Schwartz. All these "not normal" things considered, her attorney opined that Jax "definitely has a problem" and advised Brittany to file for divorce first.
"The sooner the better," she said. "Because it will let him understand that this marriage is over."
In a confessional, Brittany shared, "I really need to, like, go ahead and rip the Band-Aid off, get this process started, and never look back. … I just know, deep down, that this is the right next step to do."
Why Brittany Cartwright filed to divorce Jax Taylor before he left rehab
Brittany gave her lawyer the green light to file the legal petition that day. Later, while sharing the divorce news with Kristen Doute, however, she admitted to "kind of feeling guilty afterwards," adding, "I was like, 'Oh my god, is it bad that, like, I'm filing the day before he leaves rehab?'"
She had her reasons, though. Previously explaining her decision to begin the divorce proceedings immediately, Brittany said, "I'm just so terrified that I'm gonna allow him to slowly make his way back into my life."
While packing up Jax's belongings with some friends earlier in the June 10 episode, Brittany also similarly stated that she still loves Jax, and that's something that can "bring [her] back in a lot of the times." This time, however, she vowed to stand firm in her decision, for their son's sake, if nothing else.
"As much as it pains me, what's actually making me stay strong in all of this is Cruz, my son," she elaborated after making the "really, really hard" divorce decision. "Like, me being happy is gonna be so much better for him in the long run."
Brittany Cartwright didn't plan to file for divorce when she did
On The Valley After Show, Brittany further revealed that she "wasn't really, like, fully 100 percent expecting to file" for divorce the first day she met her now-attorney in Episode 9.
"I thought I was just gonna go in and, like, interview lawyers and, like, see what I needed to do to protect myself," she added.
So, what exactly helped Brittany make up her mind? "I just ended up loving her," she explained of her "strong woman" lawyer on the After Show.
What's more, upon showing her Jax's many text messages from rehab, "even she was shocked, and she's a divorce lawyer," Brittany continued. "It was bad. It really opened my eyes up in the moment."
