Reality TV has never shied away from exposing the raw, difficult sides of life — and for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Taylor Armstrong, those moments were all too real. Now, more than a decade after the tragic end of her marriage to Russell Armstrong, Taylor is speaking out with painful clarity about the abuse she suffered behind closed doors.
In a new episode of Investigation Discovery Hollywood Demons, the 53-year-old bravely revisits some of the darkest moments of her past, detailing the physical and emotional terror she endured while married to Russell, who died by suicide in 2011.
One horrifying incident took place at a friend’s house after those around her began voicing concerns about her safety. Russell overheard them and, as Taylor Armstrong recounts, “He came flying into the backyard. He threw me in the pool. He grabbed the man, knocked all of his teeth out, and he jumped in the pool and he was trying to hold me under the water. I thought he was going to drown me.”
Another terrifying memory came from something as seemingly simple as serving dinner. After she served pizza to his sons — without vegetables — Taylor Armstrong says, “He grabbed me by the throat and put me against the wall” and warned her he would “kill” her if it happened again.
For Taylor, one pivotal, life-altering moment arrived on her 40th birthday at a Four Seasons hotel. Russell had showered her with expensive gifts, but what followed was anything but celebratory. He became enraged over her attending co-star Lisa Vanderpump’s daughter’s bachelorette party in Las Vegas, eventually assaulting her so severely that it left her with a fractured orbital floor — the bone that supports the eye. It required reconstructive surgery.
That violent attack was the breaking point. Taylor filed for divorce in July 2011. The following month, Russell took his own life by hanging.
Looking back, Taylor says she never expected it. “There was a myriad of things that he was very concerned about, but I never thought that he would kill himself,” she revealed. “Suicide never crossed my mind.”
Now married to attorney John Bluher and raising her daughter Kennedy, Taylor continues to share her story in the hopes of helping others trapped in similar cycles of abuse.
7 comments