The ladies of Beverly Hills took to the couches in last night’s Reunion, Part 1. I’ve had a lot of difficulty mustering up any real zeal for the show this season; too much of it focused Taylor’s somewhat dubious claims about what happened in her marriage. Let me make myself clear – I don’t condone men hitting women. Actually, I don’t condone people hitting people in general. Or animals, for that matter. Taylor’s allegations, however, seem to be positioned as leverage which she uses to manipulate the other Housewives, the public, and perhaps even Andy Cohen. Andy seems to me to be far more scripted when he speaks to Taylor than he ever does with the other ladies. Whether this is the result of exquisite legal coaching or simply painful awareness of the moment, I hate listening to him talk to her. Of course, I also hate listening to her talk, so perhaps the fact that my brain recognizes the possibility that Taylor might actually respond to questions triggers this Andy-Taylor sensitivity.
I don’t actually believe that Taylor was in the kind of abusive marriage she half-depicts in her vague tip-toeing around the issue. I do believe that Russell was aggressive. He may have hit her, though I am not entirely convinced by the black eye; the timing seems suspicious to me. He probably verbally abused her and called her names. They might have smacked each other around. I say each other because it also seems that Taylor is an aggressive person. She goes from hurt feeling to thrown-down at the drop of a hat. She screams and yells and talks trash and waves her arms and I would bet that if not held back, she’d also hit and kick and punch. Yeah, yeah – I know that he was accused of domestic violence in earlier marriages. I don’t necessarily believe that once an abuser, always an abuser, but I also don’t think that the possibility he hit her doesn’t mean that their marriage was not a two-sided beat-down. Troubled people attract other troubled people. His family and outsiders insist that Russell was completely mesmerized by Taylor and tried to please and impress her with ever-increasing spending and lavish gifts. By the time of the White Party, his credit cards had been suspended and he was in deep financial distress. I imagine that the impact of these circumstances made them both angry and desperate.
My take on the situation is that he was a perfection-seeking control freak and she is a manipulative, lying climber.
Too many of Taylor’s claims have already been refuted; her name (Shana Taylor), her relationship with Adrienne (not actually her daughter’s godmother), her family ties (not the Ford Motor Cars family), her career (now a professional victim with a small menu of sham companies, once a salesperson, never a management consultant), and her background (not an Oklahoma rancher’s daughter). Did she go to college? She claims to, but I can’t find any information about her degree or if she has one.
In addition, she is involved in a pretty nasty lawsuit that alleges that Russell misappropriated investor funds meant to capitalize a medical records company (MMRGlobal) for which he was the majority shareholder. An earlier legal settlement required the Armstrongs to repay the company $250,000 and divulge the names of anyone who purchased corporate stock from them. The company accuses the Armstrongs of breach-of-contract regarding the agreement. It further maintains that Taylor deposited money into a secret bank account in the Cook Islands that she and Russell named the Taylor Family Trust. The lawsuit further contends that Taylor’s claims of being without funds to repay the debt are without merit because of Taylor’s Bravo paycheck, Taylor’s book royalties and advances, Taylor’s earnings from her companies, Taylor’s fees for appearances, and Taylor’s gifts from corporate sponsors.
I believe it is extremely probable that Taylor Armstrong would make up or exaggerate stories of abuse to try to gain sympathy for her legal situation. When I first learned that Russell had committed suicide, I suggested that perhaps legal issues had arisen that were simply too much for him to handle. I also theorized that Taylor would amp up her claims of abuse to deflect any culpability she might have in the situation. All reports appear to indicate that Taylor was, in fact, involved in the diversion of funds. She will claim that she did what she had to in order to survive. Perhaps this is true. Perhaps it is not. No one will ever know the truth about abuse or anything else related to Russell’s private life, motives, or expectations. I doubt Taylor herself knows – she seems to be a person who can create new realties in her own mind to meet all exigencies.
He had children. Even it her stories were completely on target, it seems cheap and tasteless to drag him through the mud. He’s dead. Positioning his body as the platform on which she’ll try to build her own relevance as quickly as possible reinforces my dislike of her. Yeah, go out and grab your quick cash and your instant fame, but realize that it will stunt any potential longevity you might have as a likeable pseudo-celebrity.
I must add that I thought it extremely interesting that she decided to leave him when the other Housewives refused to film with her. Was it a real blow to the face from Russell or just the blow-off from the ladies culminating in her exclusion from the Hawaii trip that prompted her to kick him out of the house? She certainly seemed in control of him when they were headed to Kyle’s horrible party. I couldn’t tell whether he was just a bit anti-social and weird or she was dominating him via blackmail. I still contend that Russell had no idea that Taylor was referring to her allegations of abuse when he talked about being “good.”
Reports this week state that Bravo may be called upon to testify or provide documentation about Taylor’s participation in the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Maybe this will be the event that snaps the ties that bind Bravo and Taylor; getting wrapped up in yet another legal brouhaha spawned by a Housewife can’t be the best use of the network’s time or resources. While I can’t imagine that the other ladies would be called upon to testify, I suppose they could be deposed or even called to the stand to discuss compensation as a Housewife or what they’ve seen Taylor spend. I don’t know. It seems like a big ball of Christmas lights to unravel, and Taylor has always been a shallow yet wide plastic bowl of mind-numbingly boring misery. Certainly there are more interesting, less problematic potential Housewives in Beverly Hills.
