Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Taylor Armstrong is divorcing her socially inept ponzi-scheme running husband of six years, Russell. It was clear to viewers of the show that Taylor and Russell didn’t have much in common except for their mutual love of money and their love for their daughter. (Which Taylor shows by throwing $60k parties for her and giving her expensive jewelry.) Taylor has since been spotted out with a chef who bears a superficial resemblance to Russell in that he’s geeky looking, so I think it’s safe to assume that she’s moved on.

Last season we saw Taylor give a speech in front of a domestic violence charity in which she revealed that she came from an abusive household. She cried and said that the the fact that she lived in Beverly Hills and made a better life for herself should serve as an inspiration or something. It was incredibly superficial and self-centered, but that’s Taylor. She’s also somewhat of a hypocrite in that she once threatened to take Kim Richards “out back and go Oklahoma on [her] ass” after they had a verbal argument. As Kim pointed out to Taylor, that doesn’t jibe with her involvement in a charity helping domestic violence victims, but Taylor countered that she’d never been in a fight in her life.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Taylor has an interview in the latest issue of People Magazine accusing Russell of abuse. This all sounds very serious, but The Mail doesn’t always get details of other publications correct, nor is Taylor necessarily truth-worthy. I wouldn’t put it past her to exaggerate a shoving incident although Russell seems to admit to something:

In an interview with the new issue of America’s People magazine, she said: ‘I’m mad at myself for tolerating things I should not have tolerated from the first moment.’

She claims that as well as calling her names, Russell, 47, had grabbed and shoved her, pulled her hair and thrown objects at her.

While he denies pulling her hair, he told the magazine: ‘Did I push her? Yes, maybe things happened in the heat of the moment, but it was during a time in our lives that was not characteristic of who we were. This show has literally pushed us to the limit.’

Taylor, who was exposed to domestic violence as a child and has worked for women’s shelter for a number of years, eventually decided to end her marriage for the sake of their daughter, Kennedy, 5.

‘Allowing this to happen in my own relationship was something I felt very ashamed of,’ she says.

Despite trying to save their union with six months of couples therapy, Russell moved out of their rented family home in June.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’d need to read the interview to see what Taylor said, but I wouldn’t dismiss her claim just because she’s a manipulative twit. It’s telling that Russell is blaming the show for pushing him to the limit, as if it’s someone else’s fault that he went off. Isn’t that a common tactic of abusers, to blame someone or something else for their own awful behavior? No one deserves that, but I’ll reserve judgment I guess. Here’s a link to a background article on Taylor and Russell. He’s been sued multiple times for bad business deals and has been convicted of felony tax evasion.