Is Former "Number One Guy In The Group" Jax Taylor Still Close To Tom Sandoval?

Prior to Season 9 of Vanderpump Rules, both Jax Taylor and his wife, Brittany Cartwright left the series. Jax's departure came shortly after Bravo axed four other cast members. In December 2020, Jax and Brittany announced that they were parting ways and both felt that they were ready to move on since they were expecting a child at the time.

The married couple said that they were happy about their time on the series, but were also ready for their next chapter, which came in March 2024 with The Valley. Jax was an original castmate of VPR, which premiered on Jan. 7, 2013, along with his good friend, Tom Sandoval. Before being on the reality series, the two had been friends and met when they first moved to Los Angeles. Over the years, Jax and Tom had their ups and downs when it came to their friendship.

At one point, Tom was ousted from Jax and Brittany’s wedding after one of their spats. Jax even wanted to demote him from his best man duties. During the Season 8 reunion special, Jax spoke about his strained relationship with his former best friend and admitted that his relationship with Tom ended after it no longer worked for him.

Now that Jax is not a part of the show, were they able to repair their friendship? They've both spoken publicly about their friendship.

Following Jax's departure from Vanderpump, in November 2021, Jax spoke with Access Hollywood. At the time, he said that he hadn't seen Tom much since filming wrapped for Season 8. He shared, "No, since the show I think I saw him maybe twice. Once was at a gathering at Kristen [Doute]'s house. And then I saw him somewhere else. But I mean, we're cordial."

Jax said he felt that being married and a father may be one reason why he doesn't care to revisit their quarrel from last season. He went on to say, "I mean, I'm 42. I'm not gonna go, 'I hate you,' and this and that. I'm like, 'How are you? How are you doing? Life is good. Great.' That's it. Like a matter of a dozen words since we filmed. It's nothing against him personally. I'm just going a different way in my life. He's going a different way in his. Nothing wrong with that. It's just growing."

But, like history tells us with these two, things constantly ebb and flow in their relationship. And in October 2023, Jax spoke with E! News about where he and Tom stood at that time, following Tom's cheating scandal in Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules.

"Three weeks ago, four weeks ago, is when we talked for the first time after all this," Jax said. "And I was trying to figure out how I was gonna approach Tom, because I hadn't seen him in such a long time."

This is the same conversation viewers see in Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules, when Jax surprises Tom and the other guys during a guys' night out. Jax tells Tom that he looks better than he had before, but adds, "I'm not gonna lie, I saw a picture of you on social media a couple weeks ago, and I'm like, 'holy f-ck, this guy looks like he's 50 years old.'"

Honestly, we aren't sure if it was one big thing that led to this apparent rift between Jax and Tom. Maybe it was when Jax admitted to sleeping with Tom's ex Kritsten in the early days of VPR. Or, it was when Jax tried to push Tom out of his best man duties. It could have also been when Jax left the show, thereby limiting their time together. But now that Jax is back on Bravo, perhaps their circles will run a little closer together again.

Never one to remain silenced for long, Tom has also spoken publicly about where he and Jax stand now. In November 2023, he spoke to Us Weekly about reuning with Jax and their mutual friend Tom Schwartz at Schwartz & Sandy's. Sandoval said it was "good to see him." So who knows, these two may be able to bury the hatchet at some point.