Jax Taylor Got Emotional Watching Season 2 Of ‘The Valley’

Jax Taylor recently admitted he got the “ick” while watching himself back in season 2 of Bravo’s “The Valley.”

During an episode of his podcast, Jax Taylor told his former “Vanderpump Rules” co-star, Tom Schwartz, that he didn’t want to watch the new season. However, he changed his mind after mulling it over, and doing so made the villainous reality star quite emotional.

“I did watch it. I sat in the corner and I cried my eyes out. I was so disgusted about what I saw, about that shell of a human being that I was looking at, about how I acted,” Taylor, 45, told Schwartz on his podcast, “In the Mind of a Man.”

“It was just utter disgust. And, you know, I looked at it like, ‘Wow. I’m glad I watched this because I never wanna be that person again,'” he explained.

Taylor went on to say that he initially planned to skip the upcoming batch of episodes; however, after being encouraged by the show’s producers, he changed his mind.

“I was calling the producers. I’m like, ‘Should I watch this? Should I watch this?’ Then I’m like, ‘I don’t wanna watch this.’ They’re like, ‘Jax, listen. It was a year ago. The show was shot a year ago,” Taylor revealed.

He explained that because he and the production team felt he was in a “different place” than he was when they shot season 2, they agreed that he should give the show a try.

Schwartz responded to Taylor’s comments and seemingly hinted that he was proud of his fellow co-star’s progress.

“Wow. That’s good, Jax. So you’re showing growth,” he said. “And I will say, just for the audience, it’s significant that Jax has watched an episode because I don’t think he watched one episode of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ in the history of the show.”

Later, during their conversation, Taylor and Schwartz began discussing the former’s sobriety journey. (In March 2025, Taylor shared he had been addicted to cocaine for two decades before pursuing sobriety.)

According to the “House of Villains” star, he misses nothing about his former life. In fact, seeing himself on TV from a year ago made him realize that even more.

“I don’t miss any of it,” he said. “Like I said, I watched back the episode. I just look sweaty, and my eyes are bulging, and I’m out of shape…. I just gave myself the ick… I looked disgusting. I was like 180 pounds. I just look gross.”

Taylor added that he never wants to go back to his old self, especially now that he knows what toxins like alcohol can do to his body.

Ahead of the season 2 premiere, Taylor warned Bravo viewers that his behavior in the show’s upcoming episodes will be “really, really bad.”

“The last thing in the world I want right now is for you guys to see what happened to me last year,” he said. “But I gotta look at the silver lining, you know? I hope to help out somebody that’s going through what I’m going through. I think men’s mental health is kind of looked over. I want to share my story.”

Taylor admitted his personal issues, including his bipolar disorder and addiction struggles, caused some of his bad behavior. He even described his life at the time as “rock bottom.”

“It was a really, really, really tough year for me. The only reason I’m still standing right now is because of my son,” he stated. “There were some dark moments where I was just like, I don’t want to be here anymore. But I could never be that selfish and do that to my kid.”

Speaking of his son, Cruz, Taylor also opened up about how he was the catalyst that sparked his desire to change.

“I just needed to do it for myself, and I needed to do it for my son,” the Bravo vet said. “Everyone’s like, ‘You should do this for you first.’ I did this for my son first, and then I did it for me.”

He added, “I want my son one day to be like, ‘My dad… there was something wrong with him, and he fixed himself; this is why he’s here today.”