The Valley's Brittany Cartwright had a face-to-face meeting with Jax Taylor just over halfway through his 30-day rehab stint, and, as she put it, "it just did not go well at all."
The reason? Jax had just signed a lease on a condo next door to Tom Schwartz, leaving Brittany potentially responsible for the mortgage on their family home, despite her already committing to — and paying up front for — three months in a rental property.
During her shark-themed party on Season 2, Episode 7, Brittany told the group, "My biggest fear is he's gonna try to just leave and stick me with that $14,000 a month mortgage, and all of everything is gonna be on my back."
In the days that followed, she uncovered an even more concerning bombshell: Jax had not paid their mortgage in several months.
"He never asked me for help. He never told me anything. He never did anything," the mom to 4-year-old son Cruz Cauchi vented to Schwartz and Jasmine Goode during an outing at Jax's Studio City. "And then he goes and signs a lease to live in an apartment."
Explaining that she's also on the hook because both of their names are on the mortgage, Brittany continued, "If he hasn't paid it since then, [the debt] could be up to, like, $100,000 by now. … We're done. There's no Jax and Brittany anymore."
Brittany Cartwright breaks down Jax Taylor's debts
On The Valley After Show, Brittany laid out the timeline: She moved out in January 2024, and that's around when Jax halted all payments toward their home's mortgage. "He didn't want to live there anymore, and I wasn't there anymore," she said. "So, he just stopped paying."
Citing Cruz's autism diagnosis, she continued, "I'll never forgive him. … He knew that a routine and Cruz's comfort is very important. And he, because of his ego and everything, said, 'I'm not moving out; this is my house.' And then he completely stopped paying all the bills."
Claiming that she spent over $100,000 on rental properties — a sum that she could've been putting toward the home she actually co-owns — Brittany further alleged that Jax also didn't pay his taxes "for years."
"He just figures it's just gonna go away," she added. "My mortgage used to be around $8,000. I pay $18,000 now. Because of his taxes."
Brittany also claimed that, though Jax was responsible for covering the mortgage during their marriage, she paid a comparable amount by taking care of all their utilities, doctors' bills, flights, and groceries, as well as all of Cruz's clothes and toys.
