Kristen Doute Says Jax Taylor Silence Has Been ‘Really Nice’ (Excl)

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Kristen Doute has kept her distance from former The Valley costar Jax Taylor after he stepped away from the series ahead of season 3.

“I had him blocked for a while because I didn’t want to be the recipient of the rage text,” Kristen, 42, exclusively told Us Weekly on Saturday, November 2025, while attending BravoCon 2025 in Las Vegas. “I decided to unblock him just in case I needed to be there [as] a buffer for Brittany [Cartwright]. I haven’t heard from him in months.”

Jax, 46, took a step back from The Valley, which he helped create as a spinoff to Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules, in light of his mental health struggles, substance abuse issues and ongoing divorce from Brittany, 36. (Brittany filed for divorce in 2024, revealing earlier during BravoCon weekend that it’s nearly settled.)

“He’s been very silent, which is really nice,” Kristen told Us of Jax’s communication with the group. “It was just a relief to not have him around. It was just a really dark cloud for so many years, but especially last year, that I think Brittany definitely needed that break — but we all did.”

Kristen’s fiancé, Luke Broderick, chimed in to note that “everything was just lighter” without Jax on set.

“It was a lot easier to have fun without him around,” Luke, 33, told Us on Saturday, revealing whether Jax will eventually return to the show. “I would bet that he will at some point. We’ll put it that way. … I just don’t think he can stay away.”

Kristen, meanwhile, stated that she’d “rather [Jax] not” come back to The Valley at this moment.

“I’d like to see some major change, and I don’t think that can happen in one year, maybe in two,” she said.

While Jax won’t appear on season 3 of The Valley, the crew is getting some new company in fellow VPR alums Tom Schwartz and Lala Kent.