The Valley‘s Brittany Cartwright participated in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test to be a good example for her son, Cruz.
Brittany, who has primary custody of her son, told Us Weekly about leaving her autistic son for such a long period of time.
Keeping Up With Cruz:
“I had never left my son that long,” began Britt. The show’s very strict on, like, if you can call somebody. You’re by yourself there. So, that was really difficult for me because I’ve never, ever been gone from Cruz more than two or three days on a work trip.”
“[Filming Special Forces] was definitely the longest time I’d ever been away from him. That was really hard.”
“The best thing ever was coming back home. With Cruz’s autism, I just really wanted to make sure he knew that I was coming back and that I was going to be there.”
Brittany made sure to video-chat with her son “any chance that [she] got” between training tasks.
“That was, like, super important for me,” she said. “I brought a photo of him with me, but he was happy to see me when I got back. He’s my little baby even though he’s so big.”
Cruz was Britt’s motivation for doing Special Forces:
The Kentucky native explained why she chose to do something so far out of her comfort zone. “I just wanted to show him, like, even if things are scary, you can still try.”
“It was just something that I thought I should try to see what I could do and really push myself with everything I’ve been through, all the ups and downs. I just really wanted to see what it would be like.”
In the past, she continued, “I was told I couldn’t do this or I couldn’t do that. Like, ‘A woman shouldn’t own a house or take care of the yard.’ I just really wanted to put myself out there.” In the end, Brittany felt “empowered” in trying something new and tackling the Special Forces course.
“I’m in a much better place now. It was a terrifying, crazy experience being in Special Forces. But, I’m in such a better place than I have been in a long time.”
Special Forces season 4 premieres on Fox Thursday, September 25, at 9 p.m. ET.
