Taylor Armstrong, star of The Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills on Bravo, pulls back the curtain on the years
she suffered in silence through domestic violence in this searingly
honest account of her troubled marriage to the late Russell
Armstrong.
"The terrible truth is that I felt lost without the control
that Russell had imposed on me for the nearly six years that we
were married. Disturbingly, I missed that control. I didn't know
what to do once I had no one there to tell me how to dress, act,
and behave; what to want; and who, even, to be. In some ways, I
missed the abuse. I missed the pain. I missed being scared. Not
because I liked feeling any of that. But because it was the life I
had become accustomed to, and without anyone to be afraid of, to
apologize to, and to cover for, I felt completely lost."
Reality hit Taylor Armstrong hard one
tragic evening last August when she found the body of her estranged
husband, Russell, hanging in his California home. Fans across the
country were shocked at the horrific news of his death and even
more shocked to discover that behind the glittering "reality" of
Taylor's life on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
lurked a painful story of emotional and physical abuse that she had
been terrified to tell.
To the outside world, the Armstrongs
lived like royalty, throwing lavish parties-including a memorable
tea party for their daughter's fourth birthday-and mingling with
their privileged Housewives co-stars. It was impossible to
hide the cracks in their marriage from the cameras forever, though,
and their darkest secrets slowly began to seep through the gilded
façade.
With searing honesty, Taylor candidly
examines her difficult journey from the abusive home in which she
was born to the low self-esteem that kept her constantly on the run
from herself, to the tumultuous marriage that ended in suicide, and
ultimately to her realization that only by sharing her moving story
could she help other women.
