Lisa Vanderpump Speaks Out Following Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright Breakup: 'It's a Shame'

While speaking to E! News ahead of her new Hulu series, Vanderpump Villa, the Vanderpump Rules matriarch said that while she's saddened by the news, it didn't totally come as a surprise given Jax's pattern of bad behavior.

"Everybody predicted that when they got married," Vanderpump said. "They said, 'Oh this won't last long,' but I kind of never liked to draw conclusions."

Likening to the chatter surrounding her own 1982 nuptials to husband, Ken Todd, the restauranteur added, "I know a lot of people say it's inevitable, but when I walked down the aisle 42 years ago everybody shook their head and said, 'This would never last.' Ken being a bad boy in London and 16 years older than me. You go into it totally optimistic."

While she said she didn't totally know what the reason was for their split, Vanderpump's hunch was that it had something to do with Jax's history of multiple cheating scandals on VPR before he and Brittany left the reality show in 2020.

"I don't know what the reason was," The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum said of her former employees' separation, "but I imagine it was probably something to do with Jax's bad behavior. I'm not sure, but the indicator of future behavior is normally past behavior."

Jax's supposed misdeeds aside, Vanderpump said she's still wishing he and Brittany the best as they try and work through their issues while co-parenting 2-year-old son Cruz.

"It's a shame when they have a child," she admitted. "Marriage isn't easy and there's always so many options in Hollywood and excuses and their egos involved. I think nearly everybody I know that was married on reality television has separated, except Ken and I."

Brittany first announced that the pair were taking some time apart late last month, during a recent episode of her podcast.

"Yes, marriages in general are very hard and I've had a particularly rough year this past year," the 35-year-old said in the last few minutes of the episode. "Jax and I are taking time apart and I made the decision to move into another home to take some space for the sake of my mental health."

While it's unclear why they decided to separate, Cartwright said she's "taking things one day at a time" and she is unsure of "what the future holds."

Jax, meanwhile, has been quick to shut down rumors that the rift in their marriage is a publicity stunt for their new VPR spinoff show, The Valley, telling People that the pair simply decided to "take a little bit of a breather."

"I'm not sure what the future holds for this," he added. "But as of right now, this is just the best-case scenario, but this is not a publicity stunt."

The pair have been together since 2015 and got married in 2019, with their relationship being vastly documented on Vanderpump Rules, and their marriage and the issues they've faced over this last year to play out on the spinoff.

The Valley premieres March 19 on Bravo.