Jax Taylor’s presence is still felt on Season 2 of The Valley. On last Tuesday’s episode, he sent rage texts to his estranged wife, Brittany Cartwright. He took a break from the show to enter a mental health facility. In a new interview, Kristen Doute admitted that his departure was a good thing for the cast.
Absence Brings The Cast Together
Kristen spoke to Access Hollywood’s “Housewives Nightcap” co-host Lauren Herbert to talk about the upcoming season of The Valley. During their talk, she revealed what it was like to have Jax away from the show. He entered a 30-day mental health facility to work on his anger, mental health, and substance abuse issues.
At first, it seemed weird that one of the stars of the Vanderpump Rules spinoff was absent. Kristen and Jax were the reasons why this show was born. However, Kristen thought it was a good thing. Jax’s absence brought the cast closer together. It also helped defuse some of the drama that went on.
“I think having Jax away… physically, literally away in the facility for part of the summer was just so healthy. Not only for Brittany, but for everyone else,” Kristen explained. “Because Jax and I don’t mean just in regards to filming the show, but just Jax is such a presence, and he demands to be a presence. So I think having him gone for a minute allowed the rest of us to work on the relationships that needed to be worked on.”
Reunion Drama
Producers scrambled to film the Season 2 reunion sooner rather than later. Kristen and Nia Sanchez are both pregnant and due in June. The reunion was taped earlier this month. Kristen teased what fans could expect since this is the first reunion. The producers chose not to have a reunion episode for Season 1, which brought up even more feelings during the Season 2 reunion.
“I think there were still a lot of feelings from everything that happened that summer that ended up coming to light and that got brought up during this reunion,” she said. Kristen also shared how her fiancé, Luke Broderick, did at his first reunion. “Luke did great. He did really well at shushing me at the right time, too. Luke was very conscious of the baby and my stress levels,” she gushed. That was mainly his concern during the reunion.
The Valley airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo and streams the following day on Peacock.
