Brittany Cartwright revealed this week that her three-year-old son Cruz was diagnosed with autism last year, telling People in a new interview that she waited until she was “ready to talk about” it before sharing her son’s diagnosis with the public.
“ … I’m his voice now and I’m doing everything,” The Valley star— who shares Cruz with her estranged husband Jax Taylor— told the outlet. “I’m fighting for him, like, I’m his warrior now.”
During the interview, Brittany– who filed for divorce from Jax in August– recalled the moment she and Jax welcomed Cruz in 2021, as well as the milestones their son went on to hit within the first two years of his life.
“He crawled early, he walked early,” Brittany recalled. “He was talking, he was saying, ‘Mommy,’ ‘Daddy.’ He was saying ‘Hotdog’ from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then, as he got closer to 2, we started noticing that he was regressing … in his speech.
“ … He stopped talking almost completely,” she continued, adding that this is around the time when Cruz began speech therapy and occupational therapy (OT).
Brittany went on to reveal that, about six months ago, Cruz’s doctor diagnosed him with autism– specifically “non-verbal autism,” she said.
(@brittany)“It can be difficult because I’ve never heard him say, ‘I love you’ … but he is so loving and he shows me he loves me every single day. He is such a mommy’s boy,” Brittany said, noting that Cruz does say “mommy” at this time and “will sporadically say different words” as well.
Brittany said that when she first told close friends and family about Cruz’s diagnosis, she prepared a paragraph to explain what the diagnosis meant, what they are working on with Cruz and how she believes that she was “meant for this.”
“Our life is going to look a little bit different, but I feel like I was meant to be his mom,” she said. “He is my better half. He is my partner in crime. He is everything to me and even though he can’t talk, I know everything that he wants, everything that he needs. We’re just so synced, it’s incredible.”
Brittany admitted that Cruz’s diagnosis can be “challenging at times.”
“It can be sad at times because you want them to live life to the fullest, and [Cruz] does, he just does it in a different way,” Brittany said. “What I really want people to understand about autism is he sees the world so much more vibrant and amazing than any of us ever will. It doesn’t mean that he’s not going to be the smartest in his class. It doesn’t mean that he is not going to work for NASA one day. There aren’t any limitations to what he can do.”
Brittany also spoke about how impressed she is by Cruz’s photographic memory, as well as his swimming skills– that latter of which she said “helps with [Cruz’s] sensory so much.”
“ … He is doing so amazing and I have learned so much over the past couple years,” she added.
Currently, Brittany said she is focused on “early intervention” for her son, noting that this is the “time [that Cruz is] building his brain.”
“I’m just trying to do everything I possibly can to help him live the happiest life ever,” she explained. “I feel very blessed that I’m able to give him everything that he needs and that’s why I want to help as many mothers as I can.”
Brittany said that, in addition to Cruz attending speech and occupational therapy classes several times a week, he has a therapeutic companion that accompanies him to preschool every day to help with his social skills. (The three-year-old is also in the same class as Lala Kent’s daughter Ocean and Scheana Shay’s daughter Summer.)
Brittany also gave credit to “the most amazing nanny in the entire world” for helping her get Cruz to his appointments each week, as well as Jax, whom she said “sometimes” takes Cruz.
“ … the majority of the time, it’s me,” she said. “And I feel like I need to be there, I need to be learning what’s going on so that I can really work with him at home as well.”
The former SUR waitress said she always tries to stay positive– for her sake, as well as Cruz’s.
“ … It can be hard sometimes– I have my ups and downs– but I just feel like I can be proud of myself that I’m staying strong for my son,” she said.
Although Jax didn’t join Brittany for her interview with People, he posted a statement to Instagram on Wednesday acknowledging his son’s autism diagnosis.
“My precious beautiful boy,” he wrote. “I’m so proud to be your father and even though we may face challenges along the way I’ll always be your biggest supporter and cheerleader and make sure that you and other families on similar journeys affected by autism know that the sky is the limit even though life may look a little different.”
Fans can watch Brittany (and Jax) on Season 2 of ‘The Valley,’ premiering April 15 on Bravo.
Watch Brittany’s full interview with People below.
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(Photos: Instagram; YouTube)
6 Responses
I just can’t fathom why any good, loving parent would want to monetize their child, even worse still, any issues (medical, mental, behavioral, any at all) their child might have. It’s pretty disgusting and it never looks good. Even when they claim “I’m his/her voice now, I want to help bring awareness” and whatever else fake crap they spout. The child is not an accessory, he’s a human being, how about we treat him like one, okay? I don’t even want to get started on the whole using a nanny to get him to appointments and therapies….not from someone who works in the reality-verse and is home most of the time anyway. So many red flags, so, so many. There are a couple parents in one of our own therapy groups that do the same thing. It’s weird af how uninvolved they actually are, while claiming they aren’t, so my opinion might be a bit jaded on that.
He’s still so very young and at an age where early intervention has a massively huge success rate-far greater than it ever has-especially in regards to communication. I really hope the therapies and treatments he gets help him reach every level of success humanly possible. Every child deserves at least that, even if they have shitty parents!
Poor little kid, as if he didn’t have enough problems he has the waste of oxygen Jax as a ‘father’
Shame on Jax. Brittany and Cruz really need him. And all he did was make them feel like crap the whole time. And as usual he chose himself. Can’t even put his son before himself. SMDH
I know this will be controversial but… YOU DON’T NEED TO AIR YOUR SON’S BUSINESS FOR EVERYBODY TO SEE. Give him privacy, strangers doesn’t need to know if he struggles or not. RESPECT YOUR KID’S PRIVACY FFS
Totally agree. Every single time a celebrity child is diagnosed with something the parent tries to make them the face of that diagnosis. How about waiting until these children are older and can make that choice for themselves? Let them adjust to their challenges privately.
And the underlying motivation is getting attention for the parent, which equals storyline and money.