Jax Taylor‘s therapy sessions will go down in Bravo history — but apparently there was more drama behind the scenes.
During the Thursday, July 27, episode of Kristen Doute‘s “Sex, Love, and What Else Matters” podcast, the former Vanderpump Rules costars claimed Jax’s season 1 therapist discussed their sessions without permission.
“I was in Australia and I got a phone call from [Kristen] and [ex-girlfriend] Carmen [Dickman]. You were sitting in a bar and you overheard the therapist talking about me,” Jax, 44, recalled. “It is therapy 101 that you don’t talk about your clients. It’s a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) law.”
Kristen, 40, went on to share her side of the story about the alleged conversation.
“She was standing really close to us. I hear her say ‘Jax’ and so does Carmen. I look over and I immediately recognize her. She’s so wasted and comes up to us. I can’t remember what she said but she was just spilling the f—king tea,” the podcast host detailed. “She was wasted and literally saying things that they would discuss during their session. Even though we knew, it was just so f—ked up. I think we got her fired because I know I called production and said, ‘This needs to be reported so she never does this again.’”
Kristen Doute, Jax Taylor. Shutterstock (2)
The experience proved to Jax that his original doubts about trying therapy weren’t unfounded.
“At that time, I was totally against therapy. I still kind of am. I have been burned so many f—king times. I decided after all the crap I got into [on the show] — and production came up to me — they asked, ‘Do you need to see a therapist on the show?’ Every TV show offers a therapist if you need it,” he noted. “I was like, ‘Why don’t we film it?’ And they were like, ‘Are you sure? It has to go through a whole legal thing.’ I do the sessions and it takes me a little time but I get vulnerable and start to get into it.”
Jax’s ups and downs were documented for nearly a decade during his time on Vanderpump Rules. After making his debut in 2013, Jax continued to show details of his life until he and wife Brittany Cartwright announced their exit.
“The last 8 years on Vanderpump Rules have been some of the most challenging, rewarding and fulfilling years of my life,” the couple wrote in separate statements via Instagram in 2020. “Although this is difficult to share, Brittany and I will not be returning for another season of Vanderpump Rules. We are excited to take this time to focus on our growing family and share with you our new endeavors. @bravotv, @evolutionusa and our Vanderpump castmates will always remain close to our hearts. Thank you to all the fans who have shared our journey with us and supported us through everything. We love you.”
Jax, who welcomed son Cruz with Brittany, 34, in April 2021, later admitted his interest in filming waned ahead of his departure.
“I was 100 percent checked out at the end. … I was just very irritable on the show. It was getting a little bit too scripted for me, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. It wasn’t fun,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2021.
More recently, Jax broke down how filming Vanderpump Rules took a toll on his personal life. “My mental health was taking a huge hit. It was eight years of being drilled. I was the villain of the show for eight years,” he said during a May episode of the “Forever Young” podcast. “[I was] just being hammered.”
He concluded: “I have thick skin — I do — but after a while I don’t care how thick your skin is. After eight years it takes a toll. I was really questioning mental health at the end. I was breaking down. I was crying. I was making a lot of dumb mistakes at the end. I was just collapsing. I chose to be in this world, but I was taking a beating. It’s tough.”
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Jax, Brittany and Kristen are set to reunite on screen while filming their eight-episode Vanderpump Rules spinoff series. The show will focus on a group of friends as they leave their wild younger years behind in exchange for parenthood and adult life in California’s San Fernando Valley.
