Jax Taylor and Brittany Address Split Rumors & Jax’s “Cozy” Pic

Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright addressed rumors of a split on the latest episode of their podcast on Thursday.

After fans began to speculate that the Vanderpump Rules couple was living separately and took notice of a “cozy” pic Jax, 44, shared with his publicist, Lori Krebs, Jax and Brittany, 35, clapped back at the rumors — some of which have suggested they were staging a breakup to promote their new spinoff, The Valley.

“It was cracking me up how everyone was going crazy about that picture you posted with our publicist Lori,” Brittany told Jax on the February 22 episode of When Reality Hits With Jax and Brittany as they looked back on his recent trip to Montreal.

“I don’t know if people know this or not but Lori’s been in our lives — she’s not only been in our lives, it’s been in Tom’s life, it’s been in Kristen’s life, Brittany’s life,” Jax explained before Brittany noted how close the two of them are.

“She’s our publicist and [a] very, very good friend of mine so a photo like that, people I know were saying a lot of crap about it, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal, and if you look at Lori’s page, she literally took almost the exact same photo with Stephen McGee from Summer House and he’s gay,” Brittany revealed. “It’s just a friend so I want to make that clear because Lori’s an amazing publicist, a super hard worker, and she does so much amazing work for us. I just want to make sure we clear that up because that’s just ridiculous.”

According to Jax, Montreal is actually Lori’s hometown.

“She was really excited to have us there and it was just a lot of fun… People just need to relax,” he said.

Continuing on about the false reports regarding their marriage, which Brittany recently admitted faced its challenges following their December 2020 departure from Pump Rules, Brittany said she didn’t want to “go too hard” because “people do deserve to have their privacy.”

“Marriage is hard and people go through ups and downs all the time, and it’s completely normal. Sometimes people might need their space; sometimes they won’t. But I just think that the media takes things and runs with it without knowing the true facts,” she admitted.

As for claims of a publicity stunt, Brittany denied all counts.

“My life is not a publicity stunt for anything. We filmed The Valley months ago, months and months and months ago and we’re super excited for this to come out, and there’s been so many changes that has happened in every single couple’s lives, every single couple on the show. So I just want to make that very clear,” she stated. “I’m not gonna touch too much on anything else but definitely no publicity stunts are happening here, and just respect people’s privacy a bit because the media’s just getting a little bit out of control.”

“I agree,” Jax concluded.

The Valley season one premieres on Bravo this spring.