Jax Taylor shared that he used to rely on drugs and alcohol to “shut my brain off” before he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
The Vanderpump Rules alum explained to guest Jason Tartick that he suspected something was wrong, but used to “sweep it under the rug” on the Thursday, May 8, episode of his podcast In the Mind of Jax Taylor. “I never got checked. Did I know I had something wrong with me for years?” he asked. “Absolutely.”
Taylor, 45, told Tartick, 36, that it wasn’t until he went to rehab last July to work on his mental health struggles that “the doctors really got into my brain because I was just on the ground.”
Paul Morigi/Getty
Jax Taylor at the 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC.
“I’m like, ‘Something is f——- wrong with me. Something is wrong. I’m flying off the handle. I’m angry. I’m easily triggered,’” he explained.
“I’m happy one minute. I’m sad the next minute. And there’s absolutely no reason to be this way because on paper, I have it all. Home, cars, toys, healthy child, healthy wife,” said Taylor, who shares son Cruz, 4, with ex-wife, Brittany Cartwright.
At the time for Taylor, “It was really, really bad, man. My ego got in the way of me … Drugs and alcohol were a problem, but they weren’t the problem. I used drugs and alcohol to mask all my problems. Validation, insecurity, ego, manipulation, narcissism, all these things that people told me, anger issues … my family issues.”
In the past, Taylor shared that he would do drugs or drink recreationally “because it was fun.”
“I was dealing with my friends, anger, arguments with Brittany. I would say, f— that. I’m gonna take drugs for two hours or whatever and turn my mind off. And that’s why I turned to alcohol and drugs heavily. “
He said that it wasn’t until he realized “my child was at stake” that he “needed to surrender myself.”
Brittany Cartwright/Instagram
Jax Taylor shares son Cruz, 4, with ex-wife Brittany Cartright.
Last September, The Valley star announced that he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, along with PTSD, writing on Instagram: “I’ve come home to my son with a new found sense of peace. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared for the future but my focus is just trying to be a better version of myself than I was yesterday. Mental health is a lifelong battle of not letting it control you but rather you learning to control it.”
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Taylor reiterated that sentiment to Tartick Thursday, saying, “Do I have a lot of work to do? Absolutely. And I’m gonna have work to do for the rest of my life … That’s just my issues. But you know what? It was a huge wake-up call.”
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