As Jax Taylor marks his return to the Vanderpump Rules universe, he has already mended his issues with former boss Lisa Vanderpump.
“[We are] great. Everything’s good. We had some unresolved issues,” Jax, 44, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting his latest reality show, House of Villains. “We kind of lost contact a little bit during the pandemic and everything — [with] the way I exited the show. But everything’s OK now. Everything looks good.”
The reality star spoke with Lisa, 63, before the opening of his sports bar — Jax’s Studio City — earlier this month.
“I talked to her a couple times. I talked to her a couple of weeks ago, but we didn’t really get into that,” he continued. “We had some other things that we had to clear up first. But yeah, I’m excited to have her if she wants to come.”
Jax and Lisa’s ups and downs were captured for eight seasons of Vanderpump Rules. Before Jax exited the show with wife Brittany Cartwright, he shared a tense moment with Lisa where he referred to Vanderpump Rules as his show. In December 2020, Jax and Brittany, 34, announced their departure from the hit Bravo series.
Brittany later surprised viewers when she claimed there was distance between her and Lisa. “She said she missed us and stuff, but we don’t hear from her as much as I thought we would, which is kinda sad,” Brittany said on the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast in May 2022. “But I still love her to pieces.”
The former SUR waitress noted that Jax “doesn’t really say anything” about the unexpected rift between them and Lisa.
“I’m sure if you asked him, he probably would be [upset] a little bit,” she added at the time. “I know she was really close to him during all the filming and stuff. So I just wish that would have, like, continued a little bit, but we’ll see.”
Brittany, who shares 2-year-old son Cruz with Jax, also clarified that she received gifts from Lisa after their child’s arrival. “We got a present from her when Cruz was about 8 weeks old,” she concluded. “So she did send, like, some gifts and stuff.”
In response, Lisa pointed out that she tried to maintain a relationship with her former employees.
“I reached out to them. I’m sure they do [want to stay in touch], but I sent them a beautiful baby gift. [It was] hand-embroidered with the baby’s name on it,” she shared with Us in July 2022. “I’m always there. It was never me reaching out to them really. Apart from when they had the baby, it was never me reaching out. I’m always there for them. If they need me, I’m always there.”
Since their break from reality TV, Jax and Brittany have signed on to appear in a Vanderpump Rules spinoff. The unnamed project, which has already filmed the first eight-episode order, stars Kristen Doute as well and will focus on a group of friends as they leave their wild younger years behind in exchange for parenthood and adult life in California’s San Fernando Valley.
Vanderpump Rules stars Scheana Shay and Lala Kent have been spotted filming scenes for the new series. Jax, for his part, will seemingly make an appearance on season 11 of Vanderpump Rules in the aftermath of Tom Sandoval‘s cheating scandal with Raquel Leviss.
According to Jax, he wouldn’t mind getting involved in more reality shows. His time on E!’s House of Villains has already made him wonder what other franchises might be a good fit.
“I [would] like to eventually be on the Housewives franchise. That would be really, really cool. That’s a loaded question because the two shows that I watch now, they’re basically based on single people [such as] Love Island and all that,” he told Us. “But yeah, I’d probably say Housewives. I think that’s more my avenue.”
Jax admitted he isn’t as invested in competition shows though, adding, “I do kind of want to do that Special Forces show [on Fox]. I watched that. I saw the background on that and I would like to do that. I guess if you’re going to go to a competition, that’s the one I would probably do.”
House of Villains premieres with a supersized episode on E! Thursday, October 12 at 10 p.m. ET. The premiere episode will simulcast on Bravo, SYFY and USA.
