This article was originally published on Crafting Your Home. A human contributor also wrote and edited the post.
Jax Taylor has never been one to keep his personal life entirely out of the headlines, and his latest chapter is proving to be one of the more complicated ones yet.
The former “Vanderpump Rules” star has all but confirmed he is in a new relationship, and the woman by his side is Lori Krebs, the longtime publicist who represented both him and his estranged wife, Brittany Cartwright, for more than a decade.
Rather than issuing a formal statement, Taylor did it, fittingly, in an Instagram comment. Under a July 29 post of himself poolside, a fan joked that he was “surprised you haven’t got your own show yet. Or the next Bachelor lol.”
Rather than letting the comment slide, Taylor replied directly, writing, “No thanks I am taken,” alongside a red heart emoji. He still did not name Krebs outright, but the timing and the wording left little doubt about who he meant.
For a reality star whose personal life has played out publicly for years, the comment felt less like a bombshell and more like a quiet acknowledgment of something fans had already pieced together for themselves.
The Relationship Was Already Making Headlines Before Jax Said a Word
By the time Taylor addressed his relationship status on the podcast, the story had already been circulating thanks widely to a set of paparazzi photos.
Those photos showed Taylor and Krebs getting close during a birthday trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where the two were seen embracing in a resort pool, standing chest to chest as they talked, and wrapping their arms around each other throughout the day.
According to eyewitnesses at the resort, the pair made little effort to hide that they were together, a detail that only added fuel to speculation that had actually been simmering for years before those specific photos ever surfaced.
Multiple sources told People that Taylor and Krebs had been dating for several months by the time those photos became public, and that the relationship developed only after Krebs had stopped serving as Cartwright’s publicist.
Sources close to the situation described their bond as one that grew gradually out of a long friendship rather than beginning as a secret affair, with both Taylor and Krebs reportedly leaning on each other while each navigated their own divorce.
According to those same sources, the two also connected over the shared experience of raising children with autism, a detail that appears to have deepened their friendship well before it turned romantic.
Brittany Was “Very Upset” but Not Entirely Surprised by the News
For Cartwright, the news landed as a genuinely difficult moment, even if it did not come as a complete shock. A source told People that Cartwright’s reaction to seeing the photos was one of real hurt. “Brittany is very upset about the photos but isn’t surprised,” the source said, adding an explanation for why the news wasn’t entirely out of nowhere. “She could tell their relationship was more than client-rep.”
That distinction matters, since Cartwright had defended her relationship with Krebs publicly in the past whenever similar rumors surfaced, describing her at the time as a “very, very good friend” and “amazing publicist.”
Cartwright ultimately made her own decision once the photos became public, cutting professional ties with Krebs after more than a decade of working together.
She addressed the situation briefly on her own podcast, “When Reality Hits,” choosing her words carefully rather than diving into specifics right away.
“All I’m going to say about this at this moment is I will be speaking my truth, the truth, on this matter very soon whenever I’m ready,” she said, before turning her focus toward her son. “As of right now, I am focusing on me and the most important thing in my life, which is my beautiful son.”
Jax Has Framed the Relationship as Part of a Bigger Personal Turnaround
Taylor and Cartwright separated in January 2024 after nearly five years of marriage, with Cartwright officially filing for divorce that August.
The two share a five-year-old son, Cruz, and have continued working through a joint custody arrangement as their co-parenting relationship has played out publicly across both “Vanderpump Rules” and its spinoff series, “The Valley.”
That backdrop has made Taylor’s new relationship feel especially loaded for fans who have followed the split closely, particularly given how much of Taylor’s recent public journey has centered on sobriety and mental health rather than romance.
Taylor has been open about his path to recovery, revealing on a previous Hot Mic Podcast appearance that he had been dealing with cocaine and alcohol addiction for years before finally committing to sobriety.
“I’ve never said this in my life,” he said at the time, reflecting on how significant it felt to publicly acknowledge his addiction.
He has continued crediting that same recovery process for helping him become a more grounded version of himself, and his description of his relationship with Krebs as something that makes him “very happy” fits into that same narrative of personal growth rather than existing as a separate storyline entirely.
That framing lines up with how sources have described Krebs’s role in Taylor’s life more broadly. According to people close to the situation, Krebs, who has maintained a substance-free lifestyle herself, became an important source of support during Taylor’s recovery, helping him stay on track as he worked to rebuild his life.
Whether that support system eventually shaped their romantic relationship or simply ran alongside it, both Taylor and Krebs have pushed back on the idea that anything inappropriate occurred while he was still married to Cartwright, with sources telling multiple outlets that their relationship only turned romantic after both had already separated from their previous partners.
For now, Taylor appears to be leaning into this next chapter publicly rather than shying away from it, even as reaction from friends and former castmates has been sharply mixed.
Regardless of how the rest of the Bravo universe chooses to weigh in, Taylor’s own message on the podcast was about as clear as it gets without actually saying Krebs’s name out loud.
He is taken, he is happy, and for a guy who has spent years living his most complicated moments in front of cameras, that might be the simplest thing he has said about his personal life in quite some time.
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