When Reality Hits with Jax and Brittany - A Fresh Start After a Wild Year

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

In the first episode of 2026, Brittany reflects on the highs, challenges, and lessons of a life-changing 2025. From a chaotic holiday trip home to Kentucky and meaningful family traditions to hosting New Year’s Eve in San Diego, she shares the moments that carried her through the year. Brittany opens up about motherhood, co-parenting, The Valley season two, and advocating for Cruz after publicly sharing his autism diagnosis, while looking ahead with gratitude, growth, and hope for what’s to come in 2026.Please support the show by checking out our sponsors!Quince: Go to Quince.com/realityhits for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns.Progressive: Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust ProgressiveCowboy Colostrum: Get 25% Off Cowboy Colostrum with code REALITYHITS at cowboycolostrum.com/REALITYHITSDiscover Your New Home at apartments.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Everybody and welcome back to another episode of When Reality Hits. Happy 2026, everyone. This is our first episode back in 2026. I hope everyone had a fabulous New Year's Eve and I hope that 20206 is going to be a great and wonderful year for everyone who is listening. Since this is our first episode back, I wanted to kind of do a 2025.

recap because last year was absolutely wild for me. A lot of great things happened, but a lot of ups and downs and a lot of very public up and downs happened for me as well. So it hasn't always been easy to navigate through all of that, but I've tried my best and I have had a lot of support from a lot of the listeners and a lot of the people who watch the Valley and follow me on Instagram and everything else. And I just want to say that I really appreciate all of the love and support. And I'm always very open and honest about what happens in my life because I feel like whenever I signed up to do reality TV, that's part of, you know, my job. And I just feel like I'm very lucky to have the job and, you know, get to do these really cool things that I get to do.

So if I could share my story and maybe help other people, other parents who are dealing with, you know, children on the spectrum, getting their first diagnosis, if they're going through a toxic relationship, if they're going through a divorce, if, you know, people can watch what I'm going through and, you know, see that it is difficult and hard at times. but there's also so many more amazing moments and joyful moments and women are strong and we can get through anything. So 2025 definitely taught me a lot. So before we go into a full recap of 2025, I'll just fill you guys in on a couple things that I have done recently because last time You guys heard for me because we did take a week off because of traveling and the holidays and New

years and all that stuff and people, you know, taking times with their families, of course, and just really letting all of that sink in and enjoying their holidays. So thanks for tuning back in with us. Like I said, 2026 is going to be amazing. I definitely went home to my old Kentucky home to spend Christmas with my family and friends. I love to do that every year. It's something that I hope that I always have the privilege of going home and doing that and flying home and taking cruise with me year after year because it's just so fun.

And this year was strangely very warm in Kentucky. Right before I got there, it was like 20s, 30s. It got really, really cold every single day. And then as soon as I fly into Kentucky, it's like I brought. the California weather with me to Kentucky. And every day was like high 50s, 60s. I mean, it was beautiful, beautiful weather. The only thing that I get sad about is it would be awesome to have a white Christmas, you know, because in Kentucky, we do get snow in the wintertime, but you never know what's going to happen with Kentucky weather. It's so up and down. But living in California full time,

we never get that. So that was the only little thing that was missing. But of course the day that Cruz and I are flying home, just again, taking the California weather with me, it got really, really, really cold. And the winds were crazy. It started snowing a little bit. Not crazy snow, but, you know, you could see the snow in the air and a light dust over the roads and everything like that. But traveling back was definitely wild because Cruz and I, we had to rebook, I think five different flights in total. And we were staying in hotels for like two nights, three different hotels because I kept going to the airport and then the flights would get delayed.

And then they would say that I would miss my connecting because it's, you can't always find a straight flight from, you, you have to go into like Cincinnati Airport to get a direct flight from LAX to CBG, Cincinnati Airport. But there's not, they're not always available. So on the way there, Cruz and I flew on a direct flight. And on the way back, we had one stop. So whenever we would get to the airport, we were on time and everything like that. But our flight would get delayed to where we would miss the connecting flight.

So then we would have to reschedule the flight. It would be for like a couple hours later, sometimes like seven hours later. So, of course, I'm not going to make Cruz sit in an airport all day. so I would just go and go and get a hotel that was close by, and me and Cruz would stay in a hotel. And this happened to us like five different times. But we finally made it home. It was wild, but Cruz was so good. You never know a lot of times with kids on the spectrum, at least in my experience, we all know that the spectrum is so broad.

And everyone has their own different stories. No two kids are going to be exactly the same. but with my experience whenever cruise gets off of his schedule he you know he acts a little bit different so what he was doing while we were in kentucky and throughout all the flights is he would not put his freaking clothes on so he just wanted to wear like underwear socks and shoes and luckily it was not freezing cold like i had said but it was like a battle to get his clothes on him and he had not really done that before. Maybe, you know, here or there he would, but he's always let me dress him in the cutest outfits. He has so many cute outfits, so many cute shoes. I, you know,

so he's never really had that issue before. But I could tell that this time that we traveled to Kentucky, you know, he's starting to react different to changing up his schedule that he's used to. So, I mean, it was a battle. He's getting strong. So trying to get clothes on him. And was something I didn't realize was going to be so hard. And my family was so great about it because I showed up on Christmas morning to my dad's. Because every Christmas morning at my dad's house, my whole family gets together. I have, you know, you guys probably know this if you watch Jackson-Bretney-Take Kentucky or my wedding or anything over, you know, throughout the years on VaynerPump Rules. But I have three brothers and a sister.

My oldest brother is Wes. He's married to Militia. They have my beautiful niece Presley. My older sister is Tiffany. I have two nephews, Braden and Luke. And then I have my little brother Blake and my little brother Austin. And they're both married to amazing women, Kristen and Bethany. So I lucked out in the sister-in-law department, like big time.

Love them so much. And so every Christmas morning, it is our tradition that we have like a Christmas breakfast brunch thing at Dad's house at 11. and we all get together and Cruz was not wanting to put on his clothes and I tried everything. You know, I did, I even bribed him, which I know people are going to be like, you're not supposed to bribe, but I would be like, if you put these shoes on, you can have this sucker. If you put this shirt on, you can have this sucker. And of course, we had matching pajamas and all these cute things that we were going to take pictures with for Christmas morning.

So I don't know if you noticed, but I haven't really posted that much from Christmas because, you know, sometimes as a mom, what you plan doesn't always. work out but I really wanted to be in the moment and it was an amazing day but my family was so great I went there and Cruz was just in his underwear and shoes and socks and you know I had his pajamas and I was like listen guys if I didn't bring him like this I wasn't going to get him here okay like it was a struggle this morning and I didn't want to be the only one kid out of all five of us who was running extremely late. All the kids are, all the other kids are wanting to open their presents.

You know, Presley is eight years old. So she's like in that mode, that mood where she's like, can we open presents yet? Can we open presents yet? And we're like, we have to eat breakfast. But okay, okay, but okay, now that I'm done eating, can we open presents yet? And I think that that is like the cutest age because she also screams like happy, like joyful screams whenever she opens something that she wants. And it's just the cutest thing ever.

So watching that and the joy in the kids' eyes is just something that. that I love about the holidays as well. But I showed up to dads and my stepmom lindez, and I was like, you guys, I cannot get his clothes on. I'm sorry. And they were all just laughing. And they were like, we do not care at all. We just want you guys to be here.

We're just so happy that you're here from California. And just the way that they handled the situation meant the world to me. Because you never know how someone's going to react because, you know, my life is a little different. The way that I have to parent is very different. and I'm learning as I go. So they don't always see the struggles and things that we deal with on a daily basis. So they were just very supportive.

And it just made me, I'm about to cry. And it just made me, you know, realize how lucky I was to have such an amazing family. And they're all trying to, like, really understand his autism and, you know, doing their research and learning more about it. And they just love him so much. And the way they play with him. And my dad's always, you know, taking him outside. he just loves to run and you know they have these huge open fields there's cows there's chickens there's dogs there's you know all that stuff and he um just loved it and it was a great day and then

after dads for christmas brunch we all you know give each other present my uh granny and papal cart right were there as well so it was just a good fun day my dad actually for my present from him he is an amazing artist. Like he can draw really good. He can paint really good. He can sculpt things out of clay. Like he's got all these things that he's made out of clay over the years, like a cowboy face that's like super detailed and looks so real.

And all these drawings that he done. And I opened my gift from him. And I'll have to post this this week so you guys can see what I'm talking about. I posted on my story at Brittany on Instagram. But my dad gave me a hand-drawn pencil. sketch that he did of Cruz. And gifts like that just mean the world to me. It was just so beautifully done.

And my stepmom looked at me whenever I was opening it and she was like, he worked so hard on this. So my dad really took the time to make such a special, wonderful present for me. And it is such a great photo. He did absolutely amazing on it. And, you know, it says, love you from Papal. you know, the year 2025 and it was just such a heartfelt thing that I cried whenever I opened it. And it's something that I'll have forever. I'm going to hang it up in my home.

It is absolutely beautiful. And gifts like that just mean the world to me. So it was a great day. And then we go to my wonderful mom, her house. That's our next step for the day of Christmas. We went over there around two after we spent the morning with our dad. So then we go up to mom's house at the farm and my mom all comes over too of course so with my mom she has my oldest brother west Tiffany and then me so we're my mom's three kids um so we're over there with the nieces and nephews and you know um uh crews of course and everything and it's always so fun at moms and uh we do the whole christmas thing the opening gifts and all of that and then we played games all night long and we were cracking up.

I know you guys are probably seen because it's been all over social media. It's been all over like TikTok and Instagram. And you see it's like a rhyming game that's on YouTube. And I was like, okay, I have to get my country family to do this because this will be so hilarious. If you don't know what I'm talking about, there's this rhyming game on YouTube

and you have to like keep the beat and it pops up a photo of what you have to say. So it'll be like, cat, dog. cat dog dog dog cat dog cat and then there's like a beat do the and then it'll change you'll be like cat shoe mooshu cat shoe mooshu and just like show different photos and it gets harder and harder as you go and having my family do that was hilarious presley is also in that age where she is just such a little performer she is so much like me whenever I was little all of my family always say oh my god she acts just like you did. She just always wants to be up in the center of attention.

And, you know, she got like a microphone. So she wants to sing karaoke in front of everybody. She wants to do TikToks and do all these TikTok dances. So she kept me up all night doing different TikTok dances with her. And that was so fun. I mean, I just love being home and spending all those wonderful moments. And, of course, my mom is amazing. And she loves giving gifts and getting gifts and just to see her light up and how she

acts throughout all of that. We always just laugh so hard. Starting the year with a wardrobe refresh, Quince has you covered with luxe essentials that feel effortless and look polished. They're perfect for layering, mixing, and building a wardrobe that lasts. Their versatile styles make it easy to reach for them day after day. Quince has all the staples covered from soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like designer pieces without the markup to 100% silk tops and skisks. for easy dressing up to perfectly cut denim for everyday wear, their wardrobe essentials are crafted to last season after season. Their Italian wool coats are real standouts.

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Of course, you know, if you've listened to the past couple episodes when I talked about Christmas traditions, we also. do Christmas Eve at Mammal's house. You guys all know Mammal's beer cheese. So, of course, there's always so much food and Mammal's beer cheese. And this year, I think we had, like, chili and different soups and then a bunch of, like, sides and dressings and everything. And I love this stuff that my Mammal makes, and I call it pink stuff.

If you're from the South, you know what I'm talking about. You might not call it that. But it's basically, like, marshmallow fluff mixed with, like, fruit, like, pineapple. apples, different stuff like that, and cherries, and it makes it pink. And it's just so fluffy and delicious, and I love it. And I always make her make pink stuff. I have no idea what it's really called. You guys are listening to this, probably being like, oh, she's talking about blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. But it's such a staple and something that I love. And I'm always like, please, ma'am, I'll make pink stuff. So that's always fun. And we always do, you know, everybody draws a name. So I drew, you know, one of my cousin's name. I got Ashton, my little cousin this. year. Shout out Ashton. I love you. Sweetest person in the entire world. And my other, my cousin's daughter,

so I guess my second cousin, um, Charlie, Cruz drew Charlie. So I'll draw somebody's name. Cruz will draw somebody's name. And Charlie's so sweet, so amazing. And just in that age where they want like skincare, hair care, perfume. And I'm like, perfect. Got you. That's my girl. I know. Just what to get for stuff like that. Um, and then we also all have to bring gag gifts like this. year I brought people you see at Walmart and it was a coloring book. So you go through and you have, it's a coloring book that's different people that you see at Walmart because you never know what you're going to see at Walmart, especially in the sound of back home and everything else. The way people dress, the way they show up there, just all this different funny stuff.

And then I got something like, oh, I got something where you slide open a little box and a spider pops out. I was hoping so bad that my mom would get it because I know it would have freaked her out. but just like fun, cute stuff like that that we do every year. And my ma'amall, my sweet ma'amall, she dressed up as Mrs. Claus, and it was the cutest thing ever. So I just love family traditions. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, a wonderful holiday, whatever you celebrate with your family.

I hope that you had a great, great, great time. And everyone was happy and safe and healthy. Another thing that, of course, I talked about on here before, but I'll let you know how it went is every year it's another tradition to do with some of my very best friends back home a lot of these people i have known for years and years and years and years and years and years like for so long um if any of you guys were at my nashville show where i did like a live show and i brought up some of my best friends they are the people that go to my friends miss and we have a group chat called cheaper than therapy which i love because of course talking with them is cheaper than therapy

okay let's be honest So it's been a thing, and that group chat has been going on for years. And I think this is either our fourth or fifth year in a row doing our Friends'mas. And we always do it a couple days before Christmas because that's whenever I fly in town. And I always rent like a beautiful, big Airbnb. And all of my friends comes, their spouses come, and all of their kids. A lot of my kids have like three kids, two kids, you know, one kid.

We all have a kid. So there's so many kids running around playing and the Airbnb that I got this year and last year. I ended up getting the same one because I love it so much because it's beautiful. But it also has like a game room downstairs. So it's got big TVs downstairs. It's got so many different games for the kids to play. It's got, you know, like shuffleboard and all these different things. And they even have a garage outside that has like an air hockey table and ping pong and life size jenga and all these different fun stuff.

So it's perfect for that. and then we just play a bunch of games and sometimes we cooked in the first like couple of years we would all cook and like I would do like a honey ham broccoli casserole stuff like that and everyone had to bring a dish or a dessert or something to drink or whatever and last year and this year because we all have so much going on with the holidays we were like let's just order hooters so much hooters I think I ordered like 120 bone in wings like 70 bones like 70 boneless wings, fried pickles, loaded tater tots, fries with cheese dip, buffalo chicken shrimp, like all of the stuff.

And we all love Hooters because majority of us that are in this group, we work together at Hooters. I know I talk about Hooters a lot. You guys are probably like enough with the Hooters. But still, it was such a big part of my life where I really did, like, gain lifetime friends from working there. So that was, you know, something that was special to. all of us and we all worked there for a long time and I met some of my friends through working at

Hooters. Of course, some of them I knew before. I cheered with whenever I cheered for EKU, Eastern Kentucky University, met them there, roommates in college and different things. Some of them I've known since, you know, elementary school or daycare or everything else. So I have a lot of amazing friends and going home is always so, so, so, so special to me. So it was a really fun, fun time. So obviously we're getting older. We decided this year that we wanted to do a mom's night out the night before that we did Friendsmas. So everybody met up at my Airbnb. My mom and my sister and my nephew Braden stayed at the Airbnb.

So my mom watched my son Cruz, obviously, and we went out. And my friend Lindy and her husband, Justin Griffin, they have this amazing company where they have all these different cars. and different things that you can take. He also owns a security company. And we took one of their party buses out that has like the TVs and, you know, seats for everyone. And it just was really fun night. So we decided to go all out. We go to Melito, which is this great restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, had an amazing dinner there. And then we decided that we're going to take, you know, Lindy's husband, Justin, was our DD for the night. And he drove us around. the big bus and we go out in Lexington and there was like nobody out. The city was completely dead.

And whenever we were younger, we were always out on those days. You know, we were, we were just wondering where everyone was. We were going to a bar and there was not a single other person there. And it was just really funny because it's just funny like when you're getting older, how different you feel. And then, but we were together. So we were having the best time ever. It didn't matter if other people were out, obviously. But it was just a ghost town. I was like, what the heck is going on? I guess everybody, you know, was saving their money because the holidays are expensive, of course.

But we go out and we just had a ball together. And then we go back to the Airbnb and it's big. So we go down into the game room cruising everybody else is upstairs asleep. It didn't bother them at all, of course. And we just all hung out and talked. And like my sister had brought me a photo album that was. at my mom's house that she found and it was just so funny. These photos from way back in the day whenever we would all go out to the clubs and wear our short little dresses, high heels all night

long, we would get ready together, spend hours getting ready. Getting ready was like almost more fun than going out whenever I was younger because my friends would all come over. We would get ready together. We would pre-drink and do all that. We wouldn't even leave the house until like 11 or 12. And in Kentucky, the bars closed at 2. So unless you live in Louisville, that's like 4, I think, in Louisville, but everywhere else it's two. So we would be getting ready longer than we would be at the bars or the clubs, whatever. But it was also one of the funnest parts. So we had a blast. And then the next day is our friends missed and we are all just so tired. We are so tired. I was like, guys, we are getting old. So we have like all these games set up and everything else. And

we didn't really like play that many of the games. The kids did. And the kids had a blast. but we all just sat around and watched movies and we all had matching really cute pajamas that had a little martini glasses on them with a sugared rim and a peppermint stick and we all just looked really cute. And it was nice to just sit around and watch our favorite Christmas movies and talk about the good old days and everything else. But we definitely decided that next year, Friendsmas comes first and then we'll have the mom's night out. We can't do it in the opposite order because there is no going out or doing that stuff days in a row anymore. Like that is not happening. So we got to switch it up next year. But all in all,

it was so amazing. It was so much fun. And I just had the best time. So of course, after that, coming home, as I had mentioned earlier, was a disaster. All the flights, you know, it was a couple days backed up. Well, I had booked to host New Year's Eve in San Diego at the Hard Rock Hotel. And that is amazing. It's so much fun. So I was like, yes, yes, yes. I'm so excited. Well, then I kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. And people buy tickets. I've been promoting for people to come meet me there and have a fun New Year's Eve with me and everything else. And, you know, New Year's Eve is January, sorry, New Year's Eve is December 31st. I was supposed to be home on December 28th and kept getting delayed. I didn't get home from Kentucky until what time. I think I landed at,

I landed at like 1230 or 1 or something like that, a.m. This is like at night on the 30th, or if you want to say the early morning of the 31st, but I landed and I didn't get home until like 2.30 or 3. So I was freaking out that whole time that I was going to keep getting delayed and miss my San Diego appearance and make so many people upset that, you know, I had promoted it and then I wasn't even there. And I was freaking out. I was so stressed out.

Luckily I made it home. I was exhausted. And then I got ready and the next day packed up really fast and drove to San Diego. which it was raining like crazy in L.A. that day, in California that day. So, which is rare for California. Like, I drive in the rain back home in Kentucky all the time. It's not that big of a deal. But when it rains in California, a lot of people aren't used to it.

So they don't know how to drive. Traffic gets really backed up. You know, it's a whole thing. So it took us, like, over three hours to get there. And we were supposed to be at Nobu at 7 for dinner. And I was just freaking out because it was taking so long. and we had to get ready and stuff still whenever we went there. My friend Lindsay Love came with me, who was on the last podcast, my DJ friend.

So we had the best time. And thank God she came with me. She kept me motivated. And we just had a great time. We had dinner at Nobu, which was delicious. We had amazing hotel rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel. There were thousands of people at the event. And it was such a fun time.

I got to do the countdown into the new year. There was amazing DJs there. Lindsay was the perfect person to come with me on this trip because whenever your girl started getting tired, she would like get a burst of energy and start dancing or something and we just ended up having the best time. So luckily I made it to San Diego and everything was okay because I was freaking out and I really didn't want anybody to be disappointed in me and, you know, me saying I'm going to be somewhere and then I wasn't and then I would have felt terrible. So it was a whole thing. but all in all it was amazing new year's eve was amazing hard rock hotel they were awesome um and i had a great time

and i would definitely go back because that was so fun and san diego is so pretty um i definitely want to go back again soon anyway and take cruise with me and do like the san diego zoo and the safari park and all that stuff with him because he loves animals and he will absolutely love that so yep it's been a thing and I was exhausted after that, but all of that was amazing and so much fun. All right. So now let's get into some of our 2025 recap moments. I'm not really a huge chat, GBT girl. GPT.

I keep saying GBT, I think it, because it just flows better. I'm not really a chat GPT girl, but I was like, you know what? Let me ask chat GPT what it would say. if I asked it, can you give me a recap, a 2025 recap of Brittany Cartwright from the Valley? And this is what it said. Of course, it said a bunch of stuff, but here was the, in summary. 2025 was a year of transition for Brittany, marked by navigating co-parenting and divorce, embracing self-care and personal transformation,

advocating for her son's needs, and focusing on her own future while staying connected with fans in the reality TV world. And I was like, wow, yes. You know, that is true. You know, all of those things did happen. And, you know, it has been a year of transformation for me. Big time, big time. And I'm so excited to see what 2026 is going to bring.

In 2025, some of the big things that happened in my life. obviously the Valley season two you know came out and we filmed it and it aired and that was one of the hardest things that I've ever gone through and especially going through it publicly and everything like that was extremely challenging but also helped me grow in many ways because I could watch myself back and learn from a lot of things that I did wrong and you know just really try to work on being a better person but also growing as a woman and as a woman and as a mother and just personal growth for myself for all that I had been through and really just trying

to do the best for what's what's best for my son and what's best for me. So the Valley season two was definitely definitely, you know, the most challenging thing that I have done in all my years of reality TV, which is over 10 years now, which is crazy. But yeah, the Valley season two. I can't wait for season three. You guys are going to love it. If you finally want to fix your gut, make your hair healthier and stronger, and add some glow to your skin in 2026, you need to add colostrum to your daily routine. Today's sponsor, Cowboy Colostrum, offers the highest quality bovine, that's cow colostrum available in the U.S. Cowboy Colostrum is 100% made in America from 100% American grass-fed cows. Unlike other Colostrum brands, Cowboy Colostrum is true first day, whole closet.

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savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Companies and Affiliates, not available in all states or situations. Price is varied based on how you buy. Another huge thing that happened in 2025, I publicly announced Cruz's autism diagnosis with People magazine, and I got so much positive feedback and love and support and so many people telling me how proud they were of me for, you know, talking about it openly and how much my journey is helping them and, you know, we're in this together. There's such a huge community out there who are, you know, waiting for a diagnosis or who just got their diagnosis or who have been living with this diagnosis themselves or with someone that they love

for a long time. There was just so many different stories out there. And as I always say, the spectrum is so broad. Nobody is the same. Nobody's story is going to be the same. But there are a lot of things that, you know, we have in common as well. So, um, I always felt like it was so important for me to be the one to come out and talk about his autism because with us being on reality TV and in the public eye, you know, people see crews a lot and he is nonverbal. And, you know, with him being nonverbal, I knew that before season two aired that a lot of people would be like trying to tell me themselves. Like he's on the spectrum.

He has this. He has that. He has that. And I wanted to come out myself and talk about it because I'm so proud of him. And I want to share what I go through and what's helped me. And being an advocate for autism and, you know, anybody on the spectrum has become something really important and really beautiful in my life. It is not always easy.

there are so many challenges every day your mind as a parent of someone with special needs it just never shuts off so there is a lot more i guess like mental fatigue everybody's tired as a parent everyone is always but there's something about you're just your mind never shuts up your shuts off you're always wondering what you can be doing better how they could be more comfortable what you can do to help them talk what you can do to make them feel better what you could do to have the most fun, how you can play, how you can, you know, give them something that they're going to love. There's just so many different things that your mind just does not shut off about. So, I just love being a part of this community, and I'm learning so much, and I'm just so thankful

for everyone who has reached out to me, everyone who has told me their stories. It's been a huge help to me, and, you know, Cruz is doing amazing. He is thriving. I'm always going to advocate for early intervention. If you ever think that, you know, your son or your daughter are missing certain milestones, this is, you know, it can be very scary. And I think a lot of people are scared to get the diagnosis or they're scared to think of what the doctors might say or this or that. But it's so important that you get that early diagnosis. So you can start all these early interventions. You can start speech therapy. You can start occupational therapy. There's just so many things that you can do and you can get help to really help them thrive and that is my main goal.

So if you have any worries or any questions, some kids just have a speech delay. Some kids, you know, have motor skills delays. It doesn't always mean you're going to get a certain diagnosis. It could always come, but you always could still start the occupational therapy to help with fine motor skills, start speech therapy to help them talk and find their voice. You know, there are just so many different things. So early intervention is key. Some other things that I did in 2025 was, you know, special forces.

That was, you know, I'm still so glad I did it. I am obviously embarrassed of how I performed on that show. But it was an amazing experience. I think for me, it obviously wasn't the right time of my life to go. I was still healing from a lot and I thought I was going to do better than I did. I wasn't really physically ready or emotionally ready like I thought that I was. But it was still a beautiful learning experience for me. I got to go to Morocco, a place that I have never been or, you know, even thought that I would get to go to.

I met some amazing people, you know, shout out to Sean Johnson and Gia, Judey's for winning. That is incredible. I've seen some of the stuff they had to do after I left and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have no. idea how in the world I would have ever been able to do any of that. So, so proud of everyone who stayed on and did everything that they did for me. It just wasn't the good, it wasn't good timing and being yelled at, you know, by the guys, which is their job, they know what they're doing. They're just trying to make you better. But it just did not work with me at that time. Because coming out of a toxic relationship, it kind of triggered me more than motivated me.

so instead of being motivated to like push on and run that final mile home back to the the place that we had to stay at night and all that stuff I was just like I can't do this and I kind of shut down but I am very proud of myself for jumping out of a helicopter heights has been such a huge fear of mine I don't like balconies I don't like bridges I don't you know anything that even high windows in a room looking down terrifies me I won't even like my friends go near like windows and balconies whenever I'm around because I get I get a weird fear over them too so I just do not go well with me so having to jump out of a helicopter and repel down by myself and I did that that was a huge accomplishment for me I know I didn't do as

good as everyone else but I still did it and everyone has their own individual battles so that was something that I overcame and I'm so proud of that but that was that was crazy I also adopted a cat and I adopted a dog. So I got two new members of the family this year. You know, women can do it all. They can take care of households. They can take care of the yard. They can take care of the landscaping.

They can clean. They can cook. They can take care of the kids and the pets and everything else because we got this. Okay? Don't let anyone ever say that you can't do it because you can. So I adopted two new members of the family. Dolly is my dog. Lola is my cat, and they are amazing, and I couldn't imagine life without them.

There has been so much that I've done. I've traveled all over the place. I did so many live podcasts last year and different, like, trivia shows and stuff like that. I was in Nashville. I was in New York. I was in Boston. I was, you know, all over the place in different states, and that was so much fun. And again, I just appreciate all of that support that I got from people coming to the shows,

buying tickets and everything else. And I hope I can do that in 2026. as well because that is so fun and I love getting to meet people, you know, face to face. And it's just been, you know, such a blessing that I get to do that stuff. And hearing your all stories as well, like what you went through in a toxic relationship, how hard it's been for you to get out of a relationship, different things like that, or you're still in a relationship. I've had so many people tell me their stories and I love that.

And I want to help however I can. So please keep telling me your stories. Please keep telling me different things. and thank you just all so much for your support. I guess I just want to say thank you because 2025 is now over and I just had so much love. And I'm just very grateful and blessed for all of that. So thank you. Thank you for listening to the podcast, you know, showing up, following me on Instagram,

doing all these different things, watching the Valley and, you know, keeping me in touch. We're not always perfect, okay? There's always going to be things that get hated on and different stuff like that. But I appreciate the love and support so much. Um, obviously I traveled a lot this year. I went to Mexico a bunch. I went to Canada for the first time and got to meet some amazing people and I'm going to Canada again soon for a couple more fun parties and stuff that I have coming up. So can't wait for that. Um, I got to work with some amazing brands and do some amazing things. I shot some awesome commercials like I did my Tum's commercials. I did the Lysol commercial with Heather DeBrow. I did the lucky energy drink that. sold out and just I'm just very blessed with the things that I've got to do. So I appreciate that so much. And I really love filming these commercials. I have never been like an actress. Of course, whenever I was a little girl, I love to set up the VHS camera and record myself doing

crazy things. I would learn all the dance moves and the songs from cats on Broadway and react them and grease lightning and all that stuff. That's how I grew up. But, you know, I never did acting lessons or anything like that. But it is something that I really love doing. And I think I'm getting kind of good at that. So that's something to explore in the future because it's been so much fun. I mean, there has just been a lot that we did this year. BravoCon was amazing. Getting to meet everybody was amazing. Getting to meet so many other Bravo celebrities. I'm saying that in quotations because that's what people call us. That was an amazing experience. So yeah, I'm just very grateful. Well, 2025 had a lot of downs and, you know, a lot of things that I had to go through, but they also had so many amazing moments and beautiful moments.

And I hope that all of you guys can look at your 2025 year. And even if you went through some really hard things, try to focus on the beautiful moments and the happy things and carry that into 2026 and work on, you know, making it up even better for you and for your loved ones. because that is my goal. My New Year's resolutions this year are definitely, like everyone, work out more, eat healthier, be a healthier person. Of course, I had my mommy makeover this year as well, and that's been something that I'm so proud of myself. Working on my confidence and getting all of that back has been super important to me. And I'm so glad that I did it.

I'm feeling amazing. And I just want to keep on, keeping on and make sure I'm healthy as I can be for my son because he needs me. and I just need to make sure that I am doing everything that I can to feel good and energized and healthy and present. So that is definitely part of my New Year's resolutions. Also, I want to be better with time management. This is probably my biggest red flag. All my friends will tell you this.

I'm probably the last one to show up for something. And I hate that about myself. I hate that. Sometimes I can be the first person. It's not all every single time, but not great with my time management either is Kristen. So we both like laugh about that, that we were not the best with being like on time. So I definitely want to work on my time management. I think a lot of that has to do with also, you know, how Cruz is feeling.

If he wants to leave the house, if he wants to go to these different places. So just trying to navigate life around that and really figure out how I can make everything better. And, you know, time management is something I definitely need to work on. So that is definitely a New Year's resolution and also trying to be less flaky. I really want to say yes more and do more things with my friends and with my family and with crews and just enjoy life and have a good time. So I hope that you guys have some amazing New Year's resolutions as well. DM me.

Let me know what some of yours are. I have so many things to be grateful for. I'm so grateful for you guys. Happy 2026. I hope that this is the best year ever for everyone. My birthday is coming up. January 25th is my birthday. Ah, so excited.

I have a trip planned with some of my friends, so I can't wait to tell you more about that. But thank you guys so much for tuning in to When Reality Hits. I love you all. Thank you for all the support and love. And I wish you the happiest new year. Thank you guys. Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows.

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