Death Of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills Star Russell Armstrong Leaves Bravo With A Decision

by Alex Alvarez | 10:36 am, August 17th, 2011

» 10 comments

If you’ve ever watched Bravo’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you’re all too familiar with the dramatic arc created around the distant relationship that Taylor Armstrong had with her husband, investor Russell Armstrong. Since the show aired, Taylor filed for divorce citing verbal and physical abuse, and her estranged husband moved out of their family mansion and into a smaller home belonging to a friend. On Monday, Russell’s friend came home to find that the reality star had hanged himself. Without a suicide note, there’s no way of telling what eventually drove him to take his life, although his large amount debt, the dissolution of his marriage and the stress of the show (Time‘s “Tuned In” blog points to a People magazine interview wherein Mr. Armstrong admitted the show “has literally pushed us to the limit.”) could not have made life terribly easy.

CBS News noted how Mr. Taylor’s financial troubles may be linked to the show itself:

The Armstrongs were reportedly facing a $1.5 million lawsuit claiming they diverted money from investors to bankroll the appearance of a lavish lifestyle for the cameras.

Russell’s lawyer, Ronald Richards, observed, “He was still paying for this fictitious persona to be on a reality show. It was always running at a deficit more than the federal government.”

Bravo executives now find themselves wondering whether to proceed with airing the show’s second season, slated for September 5th, and, if so, how to deal with the death of a castmember.

h/t Time

bravo, Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, Russell Armstrong, suicide, Taylor Armstrong

http://twitter.com/mrbonchapeau Mark Chapman

Russel Armstrong’s death is a sad one, indeed. I can’t say I’ve known of the guy before this though. As we don’t really know his motivation for his suicide, it’s hard to know how to respond to this news perhaps. But it does raise the question in my mind ‘what am I living for’? Is it worth it? Or am I going down a rabbit trail?
Anonymous

Enough with this trash already, sheesh…
Holistic

Dear Bravo: Cancel all the” Housewives” so they can get on with whatever life they have left. After the original series, the rest were/are just stupid.
Greg

Each moment is the best thing. Hold on to as many moments as time will provide.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

my ex-girlfriend watches all the housewife shows, and many other reality shows… which pretty much meant i watched them as well, when we were together… even though the participants are all clueless, i felt embarrassed for them… it’s apparent that the social standing these wives enjoy provide them with zero intellect… i could never understand the appeal of watching these complete a-holes whine about their problems and stabbing their so called friends in the back…

absolute least common denominator fodder…
http://twitter.com/tavernwench TavernWench

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Bravo proceeds with the show as-is. Every time Russell appears it will be excruciating for viewers, knowing what happens to him, but it’ll be great for ratings.

The right thing to do here would be to cancel the damn show, but instead I imagine they’ll figure out a way to profit from suicide.
Tedderman

How sad that so many otherwise intellegent people would subject themselves to the glare of the camera in exchange for fame. Too many “reality stars” lives have wound up in divorce, family break-ups and even death as a result of their quest for publicity. As long as there are those who desire to achieve 15 minutes of fame at any cost, we will continue to have these same sad outcomes.
Anonymous

I get a kick out of peeking into these so-called lives. Gosh, are there any women in BH or OC without fake books, fake lips, fake hair, fake nails, fake marriages, fake incomes, fake careers, fake friends….

Eerily I mentioned to a friend 2 months ago, how IRL these couples are facing bankruptcy yet you see husband indulging himself with a chin implant, throat liposuction or some stupid HW throwing her kid a $60K B-day party. Suicide? I expect where will see murder. Any bets?
Mick7364

Why oh why is the media focusing on these people, they’re not worth the time or energy to write about. Sorry for the kids but I can tell you behind the death will be a ton of financial problems and/or even worse, sex. And besides, that women is on her way to becoming another Cat Women, the one that lives in NYC and has plastic surgery every other day.
Williams Susie

Mabe if the wife loved him this would not have happened all she wants is money

Death Of Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills Star Russell Armstrong Leaves Bravo With A Decision

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