The Transformation Of Jax Taylor From Childhood To 42 Years Old

The Bravo universe is full of iconic, oversized personalities, people who make viewers love to hate them even as we can't help but root for them. One particular Bravolebrity who pushes that "can't help but root for them" thing to its limit is Jax Taylor, the headstrong, easily angered bartender from "Vanderpump Rules," the man known as much for his lying and cheating as he is for ridiculous malapropisms like that time he complained that "Mercury is in Gatorade." Fans love to laugh at his more ridiculous moments, like that time he swam out into the middle of a lake, realized he was out too far, and called out, "Help! ...You can come and help me if you want!"

However, his hot-headed personality has at times boils over off-screen, overwhelming whatever joy viewers can find in his many on-screen antics; fans take pride in being "blocked by Jax" during his social media rants. What at times seems like typical, quotable reality television self-centeredness — "I'm the number one guy in this group," anyone? — can tip over in real-life into things like blatant homophobia and racism. In short, although he is no longer part of the "Vanderpump Rules" cast, he continues to tease a yet-to-materialize return to the spotlight, which means fans continue to debate and discuss the villainous drink-slinger. Here's a look back at the transformation of Jax Taylor from childhood to 42 years old, from his modeling past in Miami all the way up through fatherhood.

Jax Taylor was born Jason Cauchi in Michigan in 1979. He looked back on his childhood fondly years later in an Instagram Story (via Reddit), where he waxed nostalgic about things like being spanked, drinking from a hose, and having a bedtime. Alongside a series of throwback photos featuring an adorable bowl cut, he quipped, "I feel I look like the kid from the omen."

In Season 4 of "Vanderpump Rules," Jax's mother visited him in Los Angeles, and she met his boss, Lisa Vanderpump. When Lisa asked what Jax was like as a kid, Jax's mom confirmed her troublemaker of an adult son was a troublemaker as a child. Jax admitted to the cameras, "I used to forge my mom's signature on all my tests, and I used to fake and copy my report cards and change the grades. But I did feel bad! ...Sorry mom." In a preview of Jax's future womanizing ways, his mother even relayed a story about a 12-year-old Jason hitting on his bus driver.

Though Jax seemed to be on good terms with his parents when he was younger, he later became estranged from his mother because he was not okay with how she handled his father's death. She would wind up missing his wedding to Brittany Cartwright.

Jason Cauchi decided he wanted to be a model, so when he was a bit older he adopted the name Jax Taylor and moved to New York and then Miami to try his hand at the industry. On an episode of "Watch What Happens Live," while playing a game of "Two Truths and a Jax," he told a surprised Andy Cohen that he used to live with a young Channing Tatum. "He was my first roommate in New York when I first started modeling," Jax insisted. Later, though, on "Vanderpump Rules," his then-best friend Tom Sandoval told the cameras that the story was a lie after all. "One time, he said he was a virgin, and that he used to be roommates with Channing Tatum. That never happened," Sandoval revealed, per HollywoodLife.

Still, Magic Mike's roomie or not, Jax did have some successes. He later shared a photo of himself on Instagram appearing shirtless in Cosmopolitan, appearing as part of the magazine's "Man Manual" edition. "Ahhh the good old days, miami," he wrote.

Scandal broke out on "Vanderpump Rules" when a gay man from Jax's modeling past visited Los Angeles, and insinuations flew that Jax himself may have been in a relationship with the older man. "I was a younger model. I was hanging out with an older gay guy. People are going to talk no matter what," Jax said on the show, per RadarOnline. "People love to throw rumors out there."

Before Jax Taylor's bartending skills, impressive muscles, and volatile dating life brought him fame on "Vanderpump Rules," he was like many other young people in Los Angeles: just getting by, taking whatever gigs he could get. In 2009, one such gig was a single-episode appearance on "Desperate Housewives," playing a character IMDb lists as "Hot Guy 2 in Dance Club."

The memorable episode features the housewives on a road trip to deliver the ashes of the recently-deceased Edie Britt (Nicolette Sheridan) to her son; along the way, they reminisce about various experiences with the blonde bombshell, including the time she took Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) to a club. Jax can be glimpsed standing around in the background throughout the scene, and as Edie and Gabrielle compete to see who can catch the eyes of the most men at the club, Jax hands Edie a drink.

The clip resurfaced on Twitter in 2018, post-"Pump Rules" fame, with a fan asking the Bravo star if she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. Jax quote-tweeted the clip, confirming simply, "Yup!" The short sequence would go on to foreshadow Jax's career, which was soon to take off, in two very specific ways: First, most fans would soon meet the reality TV star while he was handing people drinks. Second, he would soon rise to fame alongside a Housewife of a different type: one more Real, but, depending who you ask, no less Desperate...

By 2012, Jax Taylor was gearing up for a life of reality television stardom. Before making the jump to "Vanderpump Rules," the bad-boy bartender put in a couple of appearances on "VPR" matriarch Lisa Vanderpump's flagship show, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." Jax was working at SUR at the time, best known back then merely as one of Lisa's restaurants, and he became a minor character in several of Lisa's scenes on "RHOBH." SUR would, of course, go on to be reality-TV-infamous as the setting for "Vanderpump Rules."

The "Beverly Hills" Season 3 episode "She's Gone Too Far" introduced a number of Lisa's employees who would later go on to star on "VPR," including Jax and his then-girlfriend Stassi Schroeder; Entertainment Weekly noted that the episode served as a kind of backdoor pilot for the spinoff series. While Stassi got in trouble for drinking on the job the night before an important event, Jax appeared to be the model employee, helping Lisa set up for the dinner party. Interestingly, he also appeared significantly less muscled than he would later become.

He would go on to appear in seven episodes of "RHOBH," according to IMDb.

When "Vanderpump Rules" debuted, Jax Taylor was dating fellow SUR employee Stassi Schroeder, and the fearsome twosome made up the most villainous couple on the show. Stassi claimed that she was the reason Jax was working at SUR, telling Bravo that they clicked the first night they met. "After that morning, we were inseparable, and never spent a day apart," she recalled "A year and a half into our relationship, his modeling career had slowed down a bit, and bills were piling up, so I begged Lisa to give him a job at SUR."

However, the relationship was not to last; Jax cheated several times over. After their breakup, Jax shared in a blog post for Bravo that he was worried he likely was addicted to sex. "Do I have a problem with it? Right now, it's under control," he insisted. "Do I think about [sex] more than I should? Probably, yes. Do I like it? Absolutely. If you're looking for an answer whether yes or no do I have a problem. . .probably yes."

He also later admitted to cheating with Stassi's BFF Kristen Doute, who was at the time dating Jax's BFF Tom Sandoval. Jax and Tom came to blows over the cheating revelation, leaving Jax with a bloody nose. Jax, Stassi, and Kristen's chaos would go on to drive several seasons' worth of drama on the show, as the revelations caused each member of the love triangle to spiral out of control.

In a bid to win his ex-girlfriend Stassi Schroeder back in Season 2 of "Vanderpump Rules," Jax Taylor got her signature tattooed on his arm. He revealed the ink during a group beach vacation to Lake Arrowhead, telling his former girlfriend bashfully, "I got your signature down there." His friend and co-worker Tom Sandoval warned the audience at home, "Do not go out getting your ex girlfriend's name tattooed on your arm. Nine out of 10 times this leads to a restraining order; Jax just got real lucky on this one." 

Though Stassi admitted she was touched by the gesture, quipping that she felt like she'd just lost her virginity, they did not ultimately get back together, leaving the model with a tattoo of the name of a woman who didn't want him anymore. He later claimed to OK! that the plan was always to turn the whole arm into a tattoo sleeve, meaning he totally wasn't hurt by the rejection, okay? "I'm actually working on finishing my whole arm," he insisted. "When I did the tattoo, I knew I was going to be doing that, so if it went south, I could always cover it up." This would not be the last time Jax got ink inspired by a love interest.

On the "Vanderpump Rules" Season 2 Reunion Special, "Secrets Revealed," the show aired previously unseen footage of the cast. Jax Taylor featured in a segment about a fitness app he was developing, being directed through his workout paces by SUR manager Peter Madrigal. Even though Jax was the one whose app this was, he kept screwing up the moves. "I'm really good at doing all these exercises," Jax insisted as the show rolled footage of him repeatedly messing up the lines. "Maybe I don't know the name of them all, but I can do them all."

Fans of the show were not fans of the app, which seemed very buggy. One review noted that, while Jax had lines on the show, the actual footage within the program featured him running through the exercises silently, which isn't ideal for a guided workout. "This is extremely weird," the reviewer wrote. "I'm so used to workout videos talking you through what you're supposed to be doing, but with this app I got nada, silence."

The app didn't exactly take off. The Twitter account hasn't been updated since 2014, and the linked website, JaxTaylorFitness.com, now redirects to the Rotten Tomatoes page for "Hard Kill," a Randall Emmett-produced film starring "Vanderpump Rules" villainess Lala Kent. It currently sits at a disappointing 0% Fresh.

Lots of "Vanderpump Rules" cast members have been public about their experiences with plastic surgery, including Stassi Schroeder's chin implant and Brittany Cartwright's breast augmentation. Perhaps no one has gone under the knife more than Jax Taylor, though, who had a second nose job to fix a deviated septum in Season 3 of VPR, infamously claiming as he came out of anesthesia that he felt "like a hundred bucks."

The model then revealed a third nose job in the Season 4 premiere of "Vanderpump Rules," apparently because he didn't like the way the second one looked. In a since-deleted series of Instagram photos (via the Daily Mail), Jax claimed he was simply adjusting his previous nose job. "Once this has healed I will be really good to look at," he said on the S4 premiere, which saw his mother flying out to LA to help care for him while he healed.

While Jax has been open about the work he's had done on his face, some fans have noticed that things didn't seem all that different when all was said and done. "Jax has to be the only person I know of where they have had multiple nose jobs and his nose still looks exactly the same as it originally did," one fan wrote on Reddit.

While the cast was on vacation in Hawaii during "Vanderpump Rules" Season 4, Jax Taylor was arrested for stealing a pair of sunglasses, posing for a bleary-eyed mugshot in a low-neck t-shirt. He didn't address the incident on social media, tweeting instead, "Missing Hawaii take me back!!" One fan shot back, "Steal something more expensive and you get a longer vacation." Lisa Vanderpump was unhappy with her bartender, complaining about his antics in a vlog for Bravo. "Jax just had the vacation of his life; why does he have to go and screw it up in the last hour? He's always pushing boundaries, and now it's kind of bitten him in the a**," she deadpanned.

Jax later reflected on the incident to Bravo's Daily Dish when the arrest aired on the show, noting that it was more or less a reality check that put him in his place. "I was drinking a little bit too much and I kind of felt like I was a little bit untouchable," he said. "And it was just very wrong what I did."

TMZ reported that he took a plea deal, blaming his theft on the amount of Mai Tais he'd drunk that afternoon. Still, they obtained photos of him enjoying a cocktail the very afternoon he copped a plea, suggesting that maybe he hadn't learned the lesson he claimed to have learned.

Much was made in the early seasons of "Vanderpump Rules" about the guys on the show being "mactors" — "models/actors" — and in 2016, after starring on Bravo for several years, Jax Taylor got the chance to stretch his acting muscles as far as they would take him. Which is to say... not very far. The SUR bartender appeared in the SyFy Original movie "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens," which was the one set in Las Vegas. The film was packed with celebrity cameos, including a number of Bravolebrities like Erika Girardi, Brandi Glanville, and Jax's ex, Stassi Schroeder.

While Stassi had a meatier role as the head of the Astro-X NYC division, including a memorable death scene where she is obliterated by a radioactive tiger shark, Jax had one line as National Guardsman #2 in the film. Jax and his co-star — presumably, National Guardsman #1 — help "Clueless" star Stacy Dash evacuate ahead of an oncoming 'nado. While Stassi's acting got a special shout-out in the People review of the film, Jax's didn't rate a mention, which we're sure he was totally fine with.

After breaking up with Stassi Schroeder, Jax Taylor dated around. In 2015, he got with Kentucky gal Brittany Cartwright. In a Season 4 episode, Jax paid for Brittany to get breast implants, and he insisted that she go much bigger than she initially planned. Oh, and by Season 6, word got out that Jax cheated on Brittany with co-star Faith Stowers. Eesh.

Though their relationship was rocky, Brittany's Southern charm provided an interesting contrast to LA, and in 2017 the couple launched a spinoff called "Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky." The show followed the twosome as they went back to Brit's home state, Jax's headstrong attitudes clashing with Brittany's more traditional family. He explained on Bravo's "The Daily Dish" podcast that part of the reason for the trip was that he was worried about Brit. "I just felt like when she was in LA, I thought maybe she was a little homesick." The prescription, he decided, was time back on the farm.

The spinoff lasted six episodes, ending with their relationship in jeopardy after Jax went off on Brittany's sister for offering relationship advice. "The most frustrating thing in this whole situation is that Brittany doesn't have my back," he told the cameras. "I know it's her family. I know it's her sister. But there's gotta be some common sense here. Ultimately, the bad-boy bartender left for the airport alone.

Even though "Jax and Brittany Take Kentucky" was positioned as the possible end of the Cauchi-Cartwright relationship, Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright got married a few years later on the main show anyway. The wedding caused plenty of drama on the show, including a long-simmering feud with his best man, Tom Sandoval, that led to the latter being demoted rather than removed from the wedding entirely; Jax later told ET, "I just wish I would've stood by what I said. I felt I was a little bit bullied into bringing him back in."

Jax and Brit had to make some last-minute adjustments when social media backlash against their homophobic pastor rocked the cast. Lisa Vanderpump stepped in herself, insisting that they fire the man who was supposed to officiate the marriage. Per Page Six, Jax said on the show, "They made it seem like we were holding flags up that like, 'anti-gay!' Like, I'm not going to like, KKK rallies down the street, man. Like you know what I'm saying? Just leave me alone."

The wedding wound up being officiated by former *NSYNC member Lance Bass, a friend of the cast. The two later went on to start a drink company together called Just Add X; Bass revealed on "The Daily Popcast" podcast that their co-founder, James Kirtley, told Taylor, "This is now your opportunity to show that you've grown up. Take responsibility. You're an adult."

Jax Taylor's final moments on "Vanderpump Rules" Season 8 were some of his most controversial. During a fight with Lisa Vanderpump, the bartender insisted, "These are my true friends... this is why my show is successful." A shocked Lisa shot back, "It's actually not your show, okay, it's actually my show, and I put your ass on it, so don't be f***ing disrespectful." The tiff foreshadowed major trouble ahead.

In 2020, amid the Black Lives Matter protests that summer, several "Vanderpump Rules" stars were fired for a variety of racist offenses. His ex-girlfriend Stassi Schroeder was let go for that time she and Kristen Doute attempted to get co-star Faith Stowers, a Black woman, arrested for crimes allegedly committed by another Black woman. Stassi said sorry on Instagram, writing, "What I did to Faith was wrong. I apologize and I do not expect forgiveness."

Jax also accused Faith of crimes without evidence on Twitter, but he was not fired by the show; instead, later that year, Jax announced on Instagram (via People) that he and Brittany would be leaving. As All About The Real Housewives reported, he later shared a message Bravo head Andy Cohen sent him; Andy wrote, "Incredible run dude. Amazing show and you were always the best, greatest sport."

Like several of their "Vanderpump Rules" co-stars, Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright became parents while the show was on a COVID-induced hiatus. On Instagram on April 13, 2021, Jax announced the birth of their son, who they named Cruz Cauchi; the former party boy wrote that he'd surprised himself with his fatherly instincts. "Dad mode just kicks in," he said. "I don't think I have ever been as happy as I am right now, everything else in life seems so insignificant now. I am crying just writing this message. I have the most beautiful son a man could ask for, he's an absolute blessing from god."

He regularly shares photos of his family life on Instagram, including a hockey-themed pic and one shouting out to his own late father. In the latter photo, his infant son wears a shirt reading, "Handpicked for Earth by my Grandpa in Heaven." In 2022, as his son neared his first birthday, fatherhood seemed to have Jax reflecting on his relationship with his own parents. He shared a snap on Twitter of his son on his shoulders and captioned the photo, "Been waiting my whole life to do this.... I miss you mom and dad." Fans were confused by the message; one noted, "Wait isn't his mom still alive??" (She is.)

So, what's next? Well, in May 2022, a Redditor shared a Cameo in which Jax announced his family planned to move to Clearwater, Florida, in the near future. Maybe this time, his Florida dream will come true.