Jax Taylor may not be on Vanderpump Rules anymore, but that sure isn’t stopping him from speaking out.
Especially recently, as the former SUR bartender has been vocal about his ex-best friend Tom Sandoval and his affair with Raquel Leviss.
Taylor, Sandoval, and Tom Schwartz were all close friends throughout most of the duration of the show, so Taylor had a pretty solid inside look into both of their relationships.
On the first episode of his and his wife Brittany Cartwright’s show on Peacock’s Watch With feature, which premiered on Thursday, Taylor admitted that he believed Sandoval was a main factor in Schwartz’s divorce from his former wife, Katie Maloney.
“I think he had a lot to do with why they got divorced,” he said. “I would like to think they would still be together if it weren’t for Sandoval.”
“As much as Katie drives me nuts, I see her point,” he continued as Cartwright agreed.
While Maloney and Sandoval never seemed to get along as friends, the opening of Sandoval and Schwartz’s new bar, Schwart & Sandy’s, has been noted as a main driving factor in the divorce.
Maloney has also said plenty of times over the years that she constantly felt unsupported by Schwartz.
Kaite Maloney and Tom Schwartz get divorced ahead of Season 10
After five years of dating, Maloney and Schwartz tied the knot in 2016, which was aired in Season 5 of Vanderpump Rules.
While the couple had been together for 12 years altogether, they ultimately decided to call it quits in March of 2022.
Schwartz took to Instagram with a blunt remark, letting his followers know that he and Maloney were separating and that he wasn’t quite ready to say the word “divorce” yet.
Viewers are currently watching Schwartz and Maloney try to navigate their separation while still being involved in the same group of friends.
While things have been clearly difficult for the pair, the latest roadblock has been Schwartz’s coy make-out session with Raquel Leviss at Scheana Shay’s pre-wedding festivities in Mexico.
Maloney rage texted Schwartz after the fact, letting him know how disrespected she felt that he would do something so public with someone in their friend group.
However, Schwartz has clarified that he did not have feelings for Leviss at the time — maybe because he knew that his buddy Tom Sandoval did.
Jax Taylor claimed Schwartz knew about Tom Sandoval’s affair for ‘a while’
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in March, the former Vanderpump OG opened up about all things Scandoval.
Cohen asked Taylor if he believed Schwartz knew of the affair and was used as a decoy, to which Taylor said, “I talk to Schwartz every day, so I know for a fact, 100 percent fact, on my child, he told me he knew.”
“He [said], ‘I knew for a while,’ and he kinda left it at that. But then he said, ‘I tried to tell him to come forward with it,'” he continued.
While Schwartz stayed quiet for a few weeks after news broke of the affair, he finally opened up during his own WWHL appearance last Wednesday.
Schwartz admitted he knew Sandoval and Leviss had a “one night stand” back in August. He then claimed Sandoval told him their connection was simply “emotional,” however, Sandoval came to him in January to reveal that he was “in love” with Leviss.
And as for Sandoval, he revealed on a podcast appearance this week that he shared his first “magnetic” kiss with the former beauty pageant queen before Scheana’s August wedding.
So, seeing Schwartz kiss Leviss after his best friend and business partner had just done the same? It’s been a wild ride for Vanderpump Rules fans, to say the least.
Vanderpump Rules airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.