Not holding back! Vanderpump Rules alum Billie Lee recalled a series of uncomfortable filming experiences with Jax Taylor amid calls for his firing from the show.
“I had some of the hardest times with that show and a lot of my mental health took its toll,” Lee, 36, told the New York Post’s Page Six in an interview published on Tuesday, June 16. “I slipped into a really bad depression.”
The transgender rights activist, who joined the cast in 2017 for season 6, claimed that she had unsettling encounters with her costars along the way — and more than one involved Taylor, 40.
“Jax and a lot of people were very kind to me on Pride when I first met them and in front of the cameras,” Lee said, adding that “he was almost coming on to [her].” When the cameras were off, however, she had a different experience with the Michigan native.
“Later that day, he told me a story about how he hung out with a girl and kissed her and found out she was a dude and it grossed him out and made it clear that he’s not into that,” she alleged. “And so for me, I was very like, ‘Oh, 360. Like, you’re coming on to me in front of the camera. But off-camera, you’re making it clear that being trans is gross and you are not down for that.’”
While filming, Lee claimed that she “tried to correct” Taylor when he used the incorrect terminology toward the transgender community, but it allegedly led to him being annoyed by the conversation.
“He just wasn’t having it,” she claimed to the outlet. “He just was very much keeping his distance. He just did not want me around.”
At one point during her two seasons on the Bravo show, Lee claimed that Taylor spread a rumor that she was hooking up with costar Tom Sandoval, who was dating Ariana Madix. According to Lee, Taylor gossiped because “Tom was sticking up for me as a trans woman and trying to put Jax in his place.”
Ahead of her departure from Vanderpump Rules after season 7, Lee was allegedly told by a producer that Taylor “didn’t want to risk his career” by offending her on accident, so he asked not to film with her anymore.
“He said, ‘Yeah, I didn’t want you around because I don’t want everything I worked hard for to be taken away. We shouldn’t have to tippy toe around Billie because she’s trans,’” she said of the alleged incident.
After her former costars Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute were fired from the series on June 9, following their racist actions towards former costar Faith Stowers, Lee called for Taylor’s termination as well.
“@BravoTV what about Jax Taylor? He refused to film with me because I was trans and called him out on his white cis privilege. Stop celebrating his disgusting actions. #canceljaxtaylor,” she wrote via Twitter at the time.
Hours earlier, Lee commended Bravo on taking action and firing Schroeder, 31, Doute, 37, and newbies Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni, who had a history of racially insensitive actions. While giving the network praise, Lee also expressed the need for more diversity among the casting moving forward.
“Please cast more black and LGBTQ+ people on ALL your shows,” she wrote via Instagram.
Lee’s request for Bravo to fire Taylor came after the reality star’s December 2017 tweet calling Stowers, 31, a criminal resurfaced amid the Black Lives Matter protests. Earlier this month, Taylor was also called out by 90 Day Fiancé’s Ashley Martson for a past racial comment she made about her husband Jay Smith’s nose.
Us Weekly has reached out to Taylor’s rep for comment.
