Jax Taylor opened up about his behavior on The Valley season two while attending the premiere party on Thursday in Los Angeles.
As he also threw shade at the new members of the series, including his former Vanderpump Rules co-stars, Scheana Shay, 39, and Lala Kent, 34, and suggested the Pump Rules reboot would “never” be as good as the original, Jax, 45, offered an update on his relationship with Lisa Vanderpump, 64.
On the topic of Pump Rules, which will be seen with an all-new cast for season 12, Jax expressed doubt in the show’s potential success.
“You’re never, ever, ever going to recreate that show. I’m sorry. You have huge, huge shoes to fill,” Jax revealed to Extra TV. “People are very smart who watch TV. They can tell what’s fake and what’s not.”
Although Jax seemed to tease a potential cameo on Pump Rules, saying, “Maybe. Maybe not,” when asked, he revealed he is no longer in touch with Lisa as he followed in Scheana’s footsteps, shading Lisa’s lack of involvement with The Valley.
“No. Lisa doesn’t even know who’s on our cast,” he shared.
Then, when asked about the new cast members of The Valley, including significant others of the main cast, Jax asked, “Who?”
“If it’s not Brittany or [Kristen Doute], I don’t really pay attention to anybody else. They’re too new,” he explained.
Moving on, Jax admitted he cried his way through the first two episodes of The Valley‘s second season, and he confirmed he’s still sober.
“I’ve been kind of working on myself for the last 133 days, that’s how long I’ve been sober, just worrying about myself, trying to get to a good place with [Brittany Cartwright], trying to be a good co-parent, and get back to where I need to be,” Jax shared. “I’m not really worried about anybody else.”
That said, he is concerned about what’s about to air on The Valley.
“I think the world is going to see a very … they’re gonna see some really bad stuff,” he confessed. “The first two episodes, I don’t even know who that person is. It’s a shell of a human being. I’m disgusted. It’s utter embarrassment.”
According to Jax, he hit his rock bottom amid production on season two as he and Brittany, 36, split, and she began hooking up with his friend, Julian Sensley.
“It was at my rock bottom with drinking and drugs and divorce, losing my house, going to rehab twice, being diagnosed with bipolar, OCD, finding out my friend was hooking up with my ex-wife, losing my son … Find a man that’s gone through that and still here, I want to shake his hand because it takes a lot to still be standing here right now going through what I went through,” he noted.
After reluctantly giving in and watching the episodes he feared, Jax said, “I cried the whole time.”
During another interview, with Entertainment Tonight, Jax said he’d love to reunite with his former Pump Rules co-stars for a catch-up special eventually.
“It would be really cool one day if they end up bringing us all back, maybe years down the line … I actually said something to [Alex Baskin] about it. Like, ‘That would be really cool to do, maybe, a couple-episode thing of everybody, where they are now. That would be a lot of fun,” he admitted.
As for the Pump Rules stars that have joined The Valley, Jax noted he’s only excited for one: Tom Schwartz, 42.
“I’m very excited for Tom,” he shared. “I don’t really have a comment on that. I’m gonna move past that. The last thing I want is this to be Vanderpump Rules 2.0. This is not that. This is not that at all. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
He went on to say that Tom is his “best friend.”
“He checks in on me a lot … he knows me better than anybody and he knows my triggers,” Jax gushed. “He knows how to talk to me. He kind of takes my mind off things. He’s very good at deflecting my problems and going onto other things, making me smile, making me laugh.”
The Valley season two premieres Tuesday, April 15, at 9/8c on Bravo.