After watching Part 3 of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Reunion last night I was disgusted. We had to endure yet another segment on Taylor Armstrong. The long suffering widow, domestic abuse survivor, housewife and oh yea, mother. Taylor remains a lighting rod for controversy. Her journey this year has been, to say the very least, yet another well executed plan for attention for her. Her late Husband, Russell, only helped her out by committing suicide.
Taylor was, has and forever will be a victim. I have met her type a million times. Always the victim. Never taking any sort of responsibility for anything in their lives. If something goes wrong, instead of looking back on what happened and figuring out how it went wrong, owning her part in and moving forward, Taylor finds a patsy and assigns the blame. She then quivers her overly inflated/silicon lip and waits for someone to rescue her and fix whatever she thinks is wrong in her life. We all know someone like this. They walk across the floor and stub their toe and its not their fault, no, no, no, its the manufacturer of the floor's fault. Also, they didn't just stub their toe, they dislocated it!
When the rumors of abuse that Taylor was receiving at the hands of her husband started I was like a dog. Head up, ears pointing and ready to attack. As a survivor of domestic and parental abuse I cannot abide physical violence in any form. As a gay man, I am particularly protective of women in general. My first thoughts and feelings where how horrible for Taylor and her daughter. As the summer rolled along and the bloggers and gossip sheets were now in full swing, things started to not add up.
At the end of summer, I think we were all shocked with the announcement that Russell Armstrong, the bad guy, had decided to kill himself. Not the easy way by over dose, but to hang himself. Let me tell you, hanging is an ugly, long suffering way to kill yourself. Its not over in a minute but rather several sometimes as long as 10 or more.
My bullshit detector was going off like it has never before. In fact, at one point, it broke from over use. The statistics on domestic abuse will confirm what I am about to say. Abusers don't commit suicide unless they are taking their victims with them. Does it happen sure, like one in million, but for the majority of the time, abusers don't get depressed and kill themselves, they kill their spouses. This was my first glimpse that Taylor was a lying sack of dog shit.
When one of Russell's friends did an interview shortly after Russell's death, this friend told the reporter Russell had confided to him that he was going to get "crucified" by the press when season 2 aired. Again, this is not what an abuser does, its completely outside of the normal profile. This was huge. I know my ex husband could have given a shit what anyone thought of him and his actions. He lived in his own world. In his world he was the victim, that's why he had to teach me a lesson. Russell's family and friends have all come out in support of him. I believe them. If Russell had been so horrible, why not just stay silent? It was not in the best interests of them to come forward in defense of Russell.
The other odd thing was that Russell's first wife, the mother of his two sons was not coming forward. If Russell was so horrible he would have done similar to his first wife. She has remained oddly silent. None of her friends say that Russell ever touched her. Again, my Bullshit Detector was going off.
At this time I was all over Bravo, and Andy, I am a media Whore, Cohen to step up and do the right thing. To take the opportunity to do some good from Russell's death. Educate the public on suicide. Andy and I had a brief Twitter fight. It had come to my attention that Bravo was planning on having the wives sitting around talking about Russell. I tweeted that, I got a curt reply from Andy stating: "Don't believe everything you read". First off, I didn't read it Andy, I am a Media Whore, Cohen, a fellow blogger called me to discuss it. Bravo and Andy's spin control is legendary, just like Mayer and MGM. I knew at that moment I had hit pay dirt. I don't consider myself an "insider" I just have friends who work, write about and are in show business. From producers, dancers, actors, camera personal, etc. You hear things when you know people in the biz.
The next day Bravo airs a special about Russell's death. It was just as I had predicted. They were sitting in a living room and jawing about Russell. I am sure they had all been prepped on what to say and what not to. After all season 2 was coming out in a couple months. Again, Bravo is famous for their gag orders in their contracts. They control everything these women and their families can and cannot say, this would be no different. Bravo blew it. They blew it big time. They had a chance, with a national format to really do some good. Instead they grabbed some ratings. Kyle Richards was crying, everyone else looked like they were pissed at having to be there. The Maloof's in particular looked like they were trying to figure out how to get out of this stupid event.
I have watched every episode of season 2. I have seen Taylor piss drunk sitting in a suitcase pouting like a 4 year old. I have seen her get violent and almost come to blows with the other cast mates. I have seen her react as an abuser and not a victim. I have seen her do to Brandi Granville exactly what she says Russell did to her. I have seen her time and time again talk about her work in the domestic violence world, specifically a shelter for women in Los Angeles. Here is a women who last season threw a $45k birthday party for her daughter, has gone to college, knows about domestic abuse, works with professionals who specialize in domestic abuse and she is silently suffering? Nope, I don't buy it. It doesn't jive.
So after I got done watching part 3 of the reunion, after seeing Taylor all smug, with her little rude and nasty face expressions, watching her lean into a verbal argument with the other wives, I am comfortable in saying Shana Hughes, a.k.a Taylor Armstrong is a lying fraud. During the reunion Taylor mentioned Russell had hit her so hard her jaw was dislocated and over a toilet she popped it back in. Gasp! Right? Funny but in her book she retells the same incident but has herself popping her jaw back in over a bed, not in a bathroom or over a toilet. She also mentions a family friend who witnessed her abuse, yet the person will not discuss it or confirm Taylor's story. Convenient if you ask me.
Its Taylor's behavior that betrays her. I know for years after I got out of my abusive relationship I didn't, couldn't say boo to anyone. I have spoken with, been friends with other survivors of domestic abuse and we all agree Taylor is not behaving like someone who was brutalized by her husband. She is too quick to get into a confrontation with anyone who challenges her or her story.
So folks, these are the facts, Taylor has a shadowy past. A name change and allegations of trying to pass herself off as a Ford (as in Ford Cars). Her mother left her father when Shana (Taylor) was 2 years old. The father paid child support but was absent. Shana's mother never had another abusive relationship. After being a baby for 24 months, the abuse Shana witnessed destroyed her life and now she claims that short time in her life led her to Russell. The evil, mean, nasty, wife beater Russell. Russell and Taylor have started several corporations, with names like the Nobel Foundation, to be confused with the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact the Nobel family has sued the Armstrong's to stop using the name Nobel, they won. Several other corporations have Russell and Taylor associated with them. In fact one IT company proudly boasts Taylor's accomplishments within the IT world. I haven't checked to see if that site is still up and running, but at one point it was.
Taylor and her husband were in my opinion, grifters. The were flim flam artists. They parlayed themselves into Beverly Hills society. Its not hard, act like you have money and your in. As I say, Perception is Reality. Russell has no history of violence I can find. Taylor has a history of lying and deceiving. She is the only woman I know who can have facial surgery and heal with no traces to be seen in days, weeks?
In her book, Taylor reveals that she told Russell he had to move out, leave. He did. Does that sound like a woman who is afraid, has no self esteem and is controlled? No it doesn't. The fact that she did not have to run away in the middle of the night and hide from him just tells me she is, again full of shit. I left my ex and he found me, broke in to my new apartment and beat the living hell out of me. Didn't see that with Russell.
I firmly believe that Russell and Taylor had a violent, firery, relationship. I think the physical violence went both ways. I think they both were very sick and needed a ton of counseling. I think Russell began to realize he was screwed. Everyone was going to believe Taylor and if he said anything about what she had done to him, he would look like a whimp. I think he got very depressed because he was being sued by a great many people. The money was drying up and he couldn't think of a way to spin himself out of such a hole. I am sure he was listening to people who were telling him what Taylor was doing. Basically, she was, yet again, positioning herself to play the role of victim. This way she could get out of the marriage and all the responsibilities that she is now faced with. If this is what Russell was thinking, I think he was right. How sad to see no hope in life.
Timing is everything. Russell deciding to take his life, before the divorce was finalized might have been planned or not. Was it Russell's way to one last time get even with Taylor? Who knows? We will never get the truth from Taylor. The fact that he died while still legally married to Taylor is ironic. Taylor is going to have, for the first time, face the music. She is being sued by many different companies and people. All of his debts are now her debts. I know Taylor will not be alone and I am sure many are lining up to help the poor, long suffering widow Armstrong. Attorney's are donating their services, doctors are lining up to console and counsel her. I have no fear some gallant man, oops that's already happened, will come forward to take up Taylor's cause and honor.
This is Hollywood folks. Taylor and her ever present lip, will soon be a memory. I think Taylor should be ashamed of herself, her lies and her actions. She has set the women's movement and domestic abuse causes back years. She has shown what greed and selfishness can do, kill a man, scae a child for life and turn the stomachs of a nation. Farewell Shana Huges Ford Taylor Armstrong, may you always get exactly what you deserve and nothing more.
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