NEED TO KNOW
Brittany Cartwright and her new man Brandon Hanson are in the same boat as they navigate their respective marriages coming to end.
Days after The Valley star, 36, revealed to PEOPLE that she is dating someone new, a source says Cartwright’s “new relationship comes at a time as they both are experiencing similar life changes.”
“Like Brittany, he is going through a divorce, and he and his ex have been separated for the past seven months,” the insider says of Hanson. “They reconnected well after he had already been separated.”
“The two have found comfort in each other as they’ve been navigating their respective divorces and personal life changes,” the source adds.
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The relationship update comes after his ex Jasina Stanko called out Hanson on social media.
In the comment section of a TikTok with photos and headlines about the new couple’s “date night”, Stanko claimed, “He’s my husband!!!” and added in another comment, “That man is married.”
When one fan inquired, “U dated him too?,” she replied, “I married him. You know him?”
On Aug. 21, the reality star brought Hanson to Narwal’s End of Summer Soirée in Los Angeles and her costar Kristen Doute told PEOPLE at the event that he’s “very much approved of.”
“She has someone in her life that’s really amazing that I am head over heels for,” Doute, 42, shared. “She’s dated people during her single years since her ex-husband [Jax Taylor], and I have not approved of them. They’ve been fine, but not wonderful. This person is very wonderful and very cool. Very family-feeling.”
“He’s a dad, so it makes it really easy,” she added. “A lot easier and understandable.”
Asked whether the pair are serious, Cartwright teased, “We’ll see.”
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As for now, Cartwright is prioritizing herself, saying, “I’ve been through so much. I feel like I’m in such a better place than I was last year.”
“I want to focus on me,” she added. “I just want to have fun with my friends, have fun with my baby [Cruz] and just do fun positive things because I’m so past the drama that I had for so long in my life, and I feel like I’ve grown so much and I’ve changed so much.”
“My outlook on everything with that toxic situation I was in has changed dramatically. So I’m excited to just have fun and explore this new me. Let go of the dead weight, let go of the drama and just enjoy my life and my family and my friends.”
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Cartwright previously told PEOPLE in April that she was looking for new love after her split from Jax Taylor.
The television personality separated from Taylor in February 2023 and officially filed for divorce that August.
Cartwright said in April that she had been on a “couple dates here and there” since her split from Taylor but hadn’t found anything serious yet.
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“I deserve to have butterflies again,” she said. “I just want somebody to be nice to me, and that’s sad. I just really want somebody to take me on dates. It doesn’t even have to be anything fancy. Something sweet, something small, will make my day.”
“I’m also just wanting to have some fun, until I do find that right person again,” she said. “I got to make sure that it’s somebody that loves kids. That’s something that’s very important to me.”
