Taylor Armstrong said on a television interview (video here) that if it wasn’t for the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” her husband might have killed her. Taylor’s husband Russell committed suicide in mid August, dying deep in debt after multiple shady business dealings. In an interview on KTLA, Taylor claimed that the show had nothing to do with her husband’s suicide and that it would have ended up the same or he would have killed her if the cameras weren’t around.
‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star Taylor Armstrong is opening up about her estranged husband’s suicide and defending her decision to do the show.
Armstrong tells KTLA that she was in “an abusive relationship for six years,” and the presence –or absence — of cameras would not have altered that “reality.”
She also calls the show her “saving grace” and says she and her 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy, would likely have fallen victim to domestic violence, had it not been for the program.
“If the cameras were not in my life, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be sitting here today because a lot of domestic violence situations end in murder-suicide versus just suicide.”
Armstrong says she spent five weeks in her house after her estranged husband, Russell Armstrong, 47, committed suicide. The troubled investment banker and venture capitalist was found hanging in a bedroom at a home on Mulholland Drive.
Many questioned whether being on the show contributed to his death.
Taylor Armstrong filed for divorce in July, claiming Russell physically abused her.
She says she has a titanium implant holding her right eye up as a result of the alleged violence.
“That’s a pretty significant situation,” she said.
Armstrong says the show gave her the platform to help other women in similar situations.
“I’m thankful to be here, especially for my daughter,” she said. “Imagine if she had two less parents instead of one. It’s been hard enough for her and I… I feel thankful at this point.”
[From KTLA]
So her dead husband didn’t kill her and committed suicide when he was alone, but he could have killed her if he had the chance, and none of this has anything to do with the pressure Russell felt from appearing on RHOBH. Taylor was horribly abused by Russell and it may be the case that he could have mudered her at some point. However he didn’t, and he has three children he’s left behind. When speaking of her ex’s awful legacy, I think Taylor should stick to the very terrible facts and not call him a potential killer, especially when his daughter was there in the studio with her. I hope little Kennedy, five, didn’t hear her mom say any of that. At least the newscasters questioned her about it and didn’t seem to buy her story.
Taylor has moved on after her estranged husband’s death. She’s been spotted out with Most Eligible Dallas castmember Matt Nordgren. She denied dating Nordgren in her KTLA interview, calling him “a good friend of mine.”
Story lead via ONTD
except when her daughter happens to find this video clip and watch it in a couple of years….it’s always funny how celebs try and keep things hush hush around their kids but say it on camera anyways. because obviously, these videos won’t be around for the kids’ viewing later on in their life…
ENOUGH. This p.o.s. woman is using her personal tragedy to obtain sympathy and famewhore herself all around.
Here’s what I do agree with, or believe – his suicide wasn’t a direct result of any influence by wifey. you just have to look at him to know he doesn’t care about her (women?) like that. it’s those shady business dealings, owing people who knows how much, perhaps said shady people threatened you?
if the show in itself played a part, it was only because he allowed his own greed and shame to play that influence.
I don’t get why people feel sorry for him, he’s not a bullied teen or heart-broke lover. He’s a crook, and an asshole, and a wife beater.
I truly wish this waste of human flesh would STFU!
While I in no way condone abuse, I also do not condone the constant crap that spews from her mouth regarding her miserable life. It would have been nice had she been so verbal while he was alive.
Way to try and extend your 15min.
She’s disgusting. There’s no need for her to make a claim like that now. Does she even think about her daughter??
EDIT TO ADD: Or his other kids who are old enough to see this? SMH
He probably was an asshole but you DO NOT speak badly about dead people.
Especially not publicly.
Yeah and I ‘might’ get struck by lightning today.
Funny how all this comes out after the guy is dead isn’t it?
1) She alleges he beat her does not mean he did beat her…do I think he was a scum bag of a man, yes. But allegations are just that until proven!
2) Suicide is a personal decision. I tried to kill myself as I went through my divorce. NOT ONCE did I ever think about hurting anyone!
3)From what records I’ve seen she was as much a part of the financial problems.
This woman is trash, and is desperately trying to save her name and Bravo’s name in the face of harsh criticism.
Disgusting to keep on with this smear campaign after the guy’s dead and buried.
Most of these “Housewives” are revolting.
she really needs to STFU already.
This whole attention whoring off the guy’s death is beyond pathetic.
Lets not forget this fish lipped chick is just as crooked as he was, if not more.
Im sure the people they scammed money from wish he would have had the chance to do just that. Nothing says ‘desperate for attention’ more than making up stories after the guy is dead and isnt even here to defend himself. I dont believe a word out of her disproportionate mouth. They need to just kick her off the show already.
I’m really over hearing/reading about her abuse. EVERY battered woman has the possibility of being murdered by their batterer.
But shut up already! The man is dead, and you have THREE CHILDREN TO THINK ABOUT. (Your own, plus his 2 others.)
ENOUGH!
This nasty, piece of trash woman needs to just go the eff away. Enough with her sad clown face and boo hoo tears. She had to amp things up and call him a potential murderer because people are tiring of her same song and dance. I wonder if she addresses her colorful grifter past in her new ‘out-in-time-for-Christmas’ book. Go raise your child and try to make amends for all the people you ripped off.
Did she pay someone to make her face look like that?
This whole story is tragic and gross.
She strikes me as a sly opportunist. I think her husband was probably a jerk,and if he abused her, scum, but she is also scum in her own way. I’m sick of this RH drama–every series has degenerated and gets very old. Don’t even get me started on that arrogance of Caroline Manzo.
Obviously, he wasn’t a good guy. But you don’t get to allege that someone COULD HAVE BEEN A MURDERER. He wasn’t a murderer. Stick to the facts.
This is disgusting.
Taylor, STFU already. Let your daughter’s dad rest in peace.
Anyone is capable of anything. So yes, he was capable of killing someone else. But as a victim of abuse, she is capable of still being a famewhore.
So he beat her and she was afraid that he was going to kill her, but she stuck around anyway? For what – the lifestyle?!! Any woman who puts her daughter in an abusive situation so she can have expensive things is diabolical and unworthy of being a mother.
tapioca – Don’t know if you’ve been there or not, but it’s more a consideration of being able to keep a roof over your child’s head and support them, him having the money for a high-powered atty & taking your kid away, and not wind up dead anyway for leaving.
There’s lots of reasons women stay, and it takes a personal revelation (that “a-ha” moment) to make a woman ready to leave.
That being said, I think TA is exploiting (exaggerating?) her situation for attention and money, without regard to the children, which I personally find disgusting beyond words.
This woman has no shame! She is bashing a dead man who cannot defend himself. Does she not understand the damage this could do to their children? As if the children don’t have enough to deal with already. Someday they will see these interviews she has been giving bashing their Father. What a stupid, stupid woman.
“That being said, I think TA is exploiting (exaggerating?) her situation for attention and money, without regard to the children, which I personally find disgusting beyond words.”
I am in total agreement with the original bellaluna. Taylor is exaggerating and exploiting this whole situation and I was an abuse victim for a large part of my life. I would never have wanted to spotlight and relive that part of my life for the attention of the viewing public. I think it’s safe to say most women wouldn’t.
Sorry but her actions on the show is not of a woman that is being abused by her husband.
Fighting with the gals, whooping it up, eating cotton candy like she is giving a *J is not a woman being beaten up at home.
Facts don’t lie, her actions and her and her behavior at Kennedy birthday party is not the actions of a woman who is afraid of her husband.
She was mad at Russel because he went and got their child a puppy, she said they had talked it over and she vetoed it and when he went behind her back and got it, we all saw her reaction and we all know the dog was given away, so no do not buy it.
Why is she continuing to talk all this isht? Taylor’s poor-ass background is definitely showing when she’s doing this to Russell, his children (her daughter too) and his family for some money. That man had children and it’s very selfish and irresponsible of her to be talking all this mess in public.
I feel bad for her, and I think it’s completely fair that she sets the record straight that he was not a good person.
Since they were together for 6-7 yrs & on camera for 2 yrs, then how did not having a camera on them for 4-5 yrs keep her safe from being killed by who she seems to claim was a homicidal maniac?
She’s been making a six-figure sum from RHOBH for 2 yrs now. So she’s had the money to leave.
This woman really needs to shut the f*ck up about her dead husband – this is in such bad taste that I can’t even think of a word for it!
skilo – Very true, and glad you got out. I did too. And I would have died a thousand deaths before blabbertising what happened to me. ESPECIALLY for profit!
My own son didn’t even know, until he was a teenager, what his sperm-donor had done to me. Still doesn’t know it all, and he never will. No one will, except former abuser, me & God.
(On a much happier note, did you get the chat link on the most recent Linnocent thread?)
I have never watched any of these Real Housewives shows, so I only know about her from reading here, but she is a great example that a person can be an abuse victim and still be an asshole. Just like you can be elderly and an asshole or disabled and an asshole. Assholes come in all forms.
In the bottom picture, it looks like she has her face pressed up against a window, except that she doesn’t. *shutter*
She experienced domestic violence herself, as a child. She has a foundation against abuse. She shouldn’t have been such a stupid bitch and hung around with her daughter for the material things & gotten Kennedy the hell out of there. I have no respect for this plastic, greedy woman. I know she is a victim, but she’s a disgusting one.
Well at least she’s not delusional about the reality of being with a violent abuser. A lot of women in the same situation never get it, and the consequences are really sad.
@Maddie that’s simply not true. You cannot tell if someone is being abused by the way they interact with others, or with their abuser in a public setting. Most victims of abuse are desperate to keep things a secret, and sometimes even their best friends have no idea what is going on. I’ve mentioned this before, but I had a roommate who was being beaten up by her boyfriend and I didn’t figure it out for months, and the abuse was happening in the next room while I was home! I even thought her boyfriend was a nice guy until I realized what a sadistic monster he really was. It’s insane to think that just because you can’t detect abuse from unrelated behavior, that the abuse doesn’t exist. I also don’t think you understand the nature of abusive relationships. In a majority of them, both parties are involved in at least verbal abuse, and often both are physically abusive. The difference is that women aren’t generally capable of lethal violence to the same degree men are. A lot of the time, women will say things that they know will provoke their boyfriends and then feel like they deserve the “punishment” they get, especially if they fight back. Of course, no one deserves to have their head repeatedly slammed into a wall for saying something mean. But these women don’t see how disproportionate the response is. They think it’s normal. Especially if they grew up in a home that functioned similarly (which Taylor did). When they frame things that way, they don’t even think they’re being abused. It is incredibly damaging to victims like this to be told that they aren’t being abused, because it just reinforces the idea that the abuse is their fault in the first place. It makes them continue to accept the violence, instead of getting help. And then people judge them for that too, because they don’t understand how someone could fail to leave a boyfriend who is beating the crap out of them all the time. And then the victims don’t want to share any more because they are just judged. And the ugly cycle continues because people get silenced and are cowed into putting up with something that may one day kill them. Great.
Jacq – AMEN TO THAT!
First she publicly calls her dead ex abusive and now a murderer! He is the father of her child for goodness sakes! Does she not think how these comments will affect her daughter?! She shouldnt be making money off his death.
Just shows she has no class and doesnt care about her daughters feelings at all. Her true colors came out after his death. Her poor daughter. No father and a piece of crap, gold digging, self absorbed mother. She is trash!
I don’t mean to belittle her life experience, but it tells you something when this woman would go on a reality show to become famous, but not leave a rich abusive husband.
people are so stupid sometimes
I do not understand, why do the dead people become untouchable? Somehow people that died are made into good human beings. He was a weird man, if he gave that vibe thru tv. I cannot imagine in real life. I think Taylor is as bad as Russell. There is something really dark about her. You can argue both sides of the fence. That she is speaking up because she was in so much fear. But the fact that she has lied about friendships, contacts, name change as Ford from the Ford’s. She seems as skeeve as Russell.
@the original bellaluna NO I didn’t see that I haven’t been on as much as usual have not been feeling well lately. Lookin forward to crackies court date tomorrow!
@alexandra
I don’t think anyone is saying he’s a good guy. But once someone is dead they can’t defend themselves, which really isn’t fair when you are beng called an abuser (which he apparently is) and a potential murderer (which he wasn’t).
What total B.S. from “Taylor” (nothing about her is real), and I do not believe for one second her husband committed suicide. Matt Nordgren? Oh, really…two conceited, superficial losers who deserve each other. Matt Nordgren can’t even use correct grammar–good thing he comes from money because he doesn’t have anything going on upstairs.
What an evil bitch! She is ENJOYING the fact her husband is dead and is milking it for all its worth. She has his daughter to consider and she has gained fame by bad-mouthing him and using his suicide for attention. She is dispicable!
My God. In the 2nd picture, her cheek bone implants are uber obvious. She’s gross and so fake. I’d kill my self too if I had to live with that thing.
I’ve never seen any of these shows, so I don’t know who is despicable or not, but as far as the actual man goes, it takes a lot more than this to make me feel bad for someone who elevated domestic abuse into an art form, engaged in criminal practices, left his family with the debt that and all of other accomplices (apparently widow included) accrued and decided to leave a bunch of his kin fatherless–trust me, trust me trust me I KNOW that suicide is more complicated than that, I absolutely do understand that. Fully. *sigh*, um, but anyway that is what’s quantifiable.
There no defense for that in life so I don’t know what providing a corpse is supposed to do in regards to changing history. If there’s nothing to hide, there’s nothing that needs to be hidden, so why go through all the hassle of keeping that behaviour secret–that recidivist behaviour? Because if someone confronted him, there’s a chance that he would have to play ‘stop, drop, defend’ and that’s too inconvenient. Now everybody but him is stuck with consequences and legacy of his mideeds and now we’re to rally around him to let him tell his side? Why? He clearly never wanted to do that very thing so he forfeitted.
It’s not nice to speak the accurate of the dead. I understand the impulse and I would never make a press tour out of the implosion of my family, that’s exceedingly queasy but for how long does a person get to silence you? What a power that a person doesn’t have to be on this planet to keep you quiet, forever.
I wouldn’t want this family, but I’m sure he was aware of the ‘death makes everything sacrosanct, so if you slander me in any way everyone is going to hate you more than they already do and I’ll be tortured and misunderstood’.
I wouldn’t want this family.
Wow, that video interview was difficult to watch all the way through. She really exposed herself. I know times are difficult, but wow, I would go the housekeeper, or professional dog walker route before I potentially hurt my family, and his family, in this way. Not excusing what he allegedly did, but…wow….
Don’t speak ill of the dead? Really?
So Saddam was a great guy? Let’s talk about Hitlers charity work?
I hear people talk crap on Reagan all the time. Isn’t he dead?
The dead don’t get a pass because they’re dead. If you were an a-hole then I think it’s fair to call them on it even after they’ve passed. Just as I’m sure people will call Taylor an a-hole after she’s passed. Death does not change who you were. Was there a possibility that Russel could have killed her? Why not? OJ killed Nicole after their marriage was over. Anything is possible. We’re not privy to any conversations they had. I get it. People hate her. It’s easy. But look at the bright side. You’ll get to continue to talk crap on her after she’s gone if she’s still relevant in your lives.