Instagram/@mrjaxtaylorJax Taylor’s struggles are being fully revealed. The former Vanderpump Rules star dropped heavy revelations on his podcast In The Mind Of A Man, where he disclosed having been to rehab several times this year while also stepping away from his reality show and business ventures. These revelations come from a guy who built his brand around being TV’s ultimate bad boy.
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In the episode, the kind of unnerving honest thing-they-should-unfold moment is Taylor talking about what’s been happening to him presently. “I mean a lot of stuff has happened to me this year. You know, I’m taking a step back from the show, you know, I’m no longer involved in my bar.” Now the real shocker is when he goes on to say, “Went to rehab a couple times.” The kind of delivery just suggests the kind of maturity that’s thoughtless or utter burnout. Perhaps it’s both.
In terms of timing, this revelation turned out to be huge. Taylor promises that it used to be part and parcel of his public image, and now it’s weird straddling the divide between private person and public.” “So it would never, you know, come at people, but then again I put my life on TV,” said Taylor. “So it’s also kind of a double-edged sword, you know, this is what I signed up for.” That was a lot of honest self-awareness coming from a guy who has rarely ever had much on-air self-awareness.
Taylor has definitely been doing some huge changes in his career since. After being fired in 2020 from Vanderpump Rules for some behavior and comments deemed controversial, he attempted somewhat of a comeback with the short-lived Valley Village spin-off, which somehow just never really caught on. His departure from the show, which, ironically, was debtor, was anything but clean, and this mess has been compounded somewhat by his various business ventures, including his bar Jax’s Studio City.
The rehab reveal holds special significance because of Taylor’s substance use history on Vanderpump Rules. The show so often revolved around cast members partying hard, and Taylor was right in the middle of much of it. If he’s had to go to rehab more than once, then this sober journey probably has been a heck lot harder on him than the fans have come to really bone on.
This confession is so sweet simply because of that matter-of-fact tone. There was no build-up of drama; there was no tearful appreciation washed down with honey; it was just the naked truth. This stark calmness in Taylor’s admission gives weight to his words as it sets against the backdrop of a mostly melodramatic reality show, creating a very sincere moment, rarely given life in a scripted manner.
A couple of months ago, Taylor’s private life has been coming under scrutiny. With his marriage to Brittany Cartwright allegedly on the rocks with marital troubles, both deny the separation rumors. Throwing possible relationship woes, career stresses, and now rehab confessions in the mix make 2024 appear as the year of reckoning for Taylor.
This kind of openness about mental health and addiction treatment forms a new chapter in the way that reality stars view their personal problems. Historically, the paradigm was always to bury these things until they could no longer be avoided and then become fodder for tabloids in the public’s domain. Taylor’s willingness to go all out and discuss it on his own media platform provides control of the story’s narrative-the narrative that his predecessors in reality genre could not have.
The reception will be mixed. Some will respect him openly for his revelation, wishing him well in his recovery; others will question the timing and validity, with excuse to stand on his previous history of attention-seeking antics. But, whatever motives one chooses to attribute to him, the saying itself is a major step in talking about rehab and mental health, which, even today, still carry some stigma.
Being the sort of illuminating story about how, in contemporary times, manufactured reality shows are very well-crafted yet far more simplistic depictions of much more complicated people, Taylor’s life has been ripped wide open for further inspection. The guy who was portrayed as the villain on television is presumably working hard off-camera to become a better human being. Whether this is a real resurrection or just another chapter to this man’s ever-shifting story is yet to be determined, but for now, Jax Taylor appears to be walking alongside his demons.
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If nothing else, the mating of Sky debuts have a lot of meaning because of their passionate engagement with real-life unattached horror in showbiz. No matter how messy this goes, Jax will offer a rich cast from a facade that has been shallowly dismissed as just another in a long line of stereotyped reality-TV stars. Now that, maybe, is the only thing he’s ever really meant when he said it, acknowledging he has been to rehab several times.
