Vanderpump Rules viewers felt right at home seeing Jax Taylor and Kristen Doute at odds during The Valley series premiere.
During the Tuesday, March 19, debut of the spinoff series, Kristen, 41, caught viewers up on her life since they last saw her on TV.
“I owned a really beautiful home in Valley Village for about two and a half years. At the time I was dating my ex-boyfriend Alex [Menache]. He encouraged me to sell my house and I moved in with him,” she recalled. “Over the next five months, we broke up about seven times until he kicked me out and I moved into an apartment.”
It didn’t take long for Kristen to find love with Luke Broderick. “Two weeks after my s–ty breakup, I attended a wedding and Luke was one of the groomsmen,” she added. “He’s sweet, he’s kind and he’s funny. We had sex behind a tent, and the rest is history.”
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Kristen revealed that she and Luke, 33, were “actively trying” to expand their family despite still being in a long-distance relationship. (Kristen currently lives in Los Angeles, while Luke travels from his Colorado hometown to see her.)
“Watching all of my friends over the past few years get married, have babies and grow their families, [I started thinking], ‘S–t, I am the oldest girl in this group. When is my time?’” she told the cameras. “We have been kind of doing this long-distance thing, but he decided he is going to spend the summer in the Valley with me because we are going to try to have a baby.”
Not everyone in Kristen’s life agreed with her plans. Jax, 44, specifically noted several times throughout the episode that he had concerns. While spending time with the guys, Jax and Luke shared an awkward exchange when Luke asked whether Jax still had him blocked on social media.
Jax’s now-estranged wife, Brittany Cartwright, also shared her insight on the divide.
“Jax acted like Luke didn’t even exist if he was around,” Brittany, 35, shared. “Jax was very rude when we went to Mexico [in 2022] for Scheana [Shay]‘s wedding. They were not getting along whatsoever.”
During a conversation with Luke, Jax asked him whether Kristen wanted to start a family with him “for the right reasons.”
“I just want to make sure she’s going to be OK having a kid out of wedlock. There’s things that can happen,” Jax explained. “I just know this because Brittany’s friends have had kids out of wedlock. They are raising the kids by themselves, have to have full-time jobs, health insurance, school, bills and food. It all adds up.”
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Luke acknowledged that Kristen was on a short “timeline” because she was the “oldest girl” in the friend group. Regardless, Luke was confident about his and Kristen’s commitment to their future child.
“We both have the same mindset that we are giving this kid the best life we can no matter what,” he said. “That is more important to me than a ring and a wedding.”
Later in the episode, Jax continued to bring up his issues with Kristen and Luke’s plans. He specifically questioned whether Kristen chose the right person.
“She was trying to get pregnant a week before she broke up with Alex,” he claimed. “I want to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but I just know there is going to be an ‘I told you so’ moment. I am rarely ever wrong about this.”
Jax, who admitted he didn’t even know Luke’s last name, told the cameras he thought Luke was “f–ked” in the situation. He also voiced the same concerns to former Vanderpump Rules costar Lala Kent when she made a special appearance.
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“Having kids is tough, and I’m not saying she’s going to be a single mom,” he continued. “I just think she needs to really think about it and make sure she is ready. And maybe pick a guy who is going to stay in Los Angeles.”
Lala, 33, who is currently on the outs with Kristen, didn’t disagree.
“I think she throws that p–s around and it shoots diamonds. She f–king bags them, dude,” Lala joked. “I’m like, ‘I’ve been looking for a man for a long time. And you had 10 in the last two years.’” (Lala shares daughter Ocean, 2, with ex-fiancé Randall Emmett and is currently expecting baby No. 2 via IUI.)
As Jax kept discussing Kristen with everyone in their friend group, Lala invited Kristen to join the conversation. Jax admitted to Kristen that he wasn’t sure she was “mentally there” to have a child just yet.
“Who are you to say that I’m not ready or what kind of mom I would be? I have been mentally ready for a very long time,” she told him before adding in a confessional that Jax should “just suck a d–k.”
Kristen said that she knew she was ready to be a mom during her last relationship but also realized her ex wasn’t the person she wanted to share a baby with. Jax, however, claimed that her recollection wasn’t accurate.
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“You were at my house telling Alex to f–king c–m inside you,” Jax alleged. “I was standing right here. And then a week later, you guys broke up.”
Kristen got emotional about Jax’s behavior toward her following more than a decade of friendship.
“Just because I don’t tell you the ins and outs of my personal relationship with my boyfriend doesn’t mean we don’t have those conversations,” she noted. “Why am I in a relationship thinking I am going into a marriage and have a kid if we are going to break up?”
Before walking away, Kristen asked Jax to “support” her. “Here he is. Here is the changed Jax Taylor,” she told the cameras. “The one who gets to give me life advice about how I need to grow up.”
Kristen and Luke have candidly discussed their plans to start a family since going public with their romance in 2022. The pair revealed on a November 2023 episode of their “Sex, Love and What Else Matters” podcast that Kristen had a “nonviable pregnancy” that forced her to miscarry. Kristen and Luke shared updates in more recent episodes about how they are continuing to try to have a baby.
The Valley airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on Peacock the next day.
