The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ Taylor Armstrong continues to struggle to get back to some sort of normalcy after the suicide of her estranged husband Russell Armstrong in August. With that in mind, and with Halloween fast approaching, the 39-year-old mom took her 5-year-old daughter Kennedy out to the famous Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch for a day of fun and pumpkin pickin’ and paintin’!
Taylor still appeared to be a bit troubled and was far from jovial, but she does seem to have put a little weight back on – which has to be a good sign. And speaking of good signs, Taylor is finally beginning to talk about Russell’s death in public. She recently did an interview with KTLA in which she answered all sorts of questions surrounding his suicide, including whether or not it would be a fair thing to say that Russell would still be alive today if not for being on the show. Taylor was quick to answer with a definitive “no” before going on to say that being on the show may have in fact saved her life.
“I was in an abusive relationship for six years and that was going on…The only thing I would say,” she added, “if the cameras were not in my life, I might not be sitting here today. A lot of domestic violence situations end in murder-suicide, versus just suicide. I have my daughter with me today, and by the grace of god and, perhaps, reality TV, I’m sitting here and so is she.”
Taylor later added, “I believe that, subconsciously, I may have signed up for the show to try and allow my problems to be in the public eye to some extent because, again, it was my saving grace.”
Taylor is also hoping to turn the negative into positive with her work with domestic violence causes. “Going through that for so long and then having the ability to find a platform of my own—which is really what I want to focus on now, helping women who are in a dangerous situation, find a platform find a financial source to get them out fo that situation before something tragic happens,” she says.
Reality stars receive criticism for just about everything they do, and that is certainly the case with Taylor Armstrong. She basically went into hiding for weeks after Russell’s suicide and was only recently seen out and about in the public again. But, of course, a lot of people are saying it’s too soon and that Russell’s tragedy shouldn’t be used as a platform for anything. “I spent five weeks in my house,” Taylor said. “We’re all put on this earth with a plan, a mission, and we’re handed a very specific mission through a tragedy. And If I don’t do something with it I’m not doing right by other women, and men, who might be in a dangerous situation.”
I really wish the best for Taylor. Whatever her faults, she does seem like a genuinely nice person who was in a genuinely awful situation. The important thing now is for her to focus on her daughter Kennedy and help that little girl have a happy, healthy childhood, and a trip to the pumpkin patch is a great start!
Top Photo: Whittle / Splash News
Second Photo: CL / NB / Splash News
