RECOVERING:Taylor Armstrong’s book talks about abuse. (Richard McLaren/Bravo)
Even before Kim cut out on Kris, more than 2.5 million fans of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” were consumed with Taylor Armstrong’s crumbling marriage and the rumors (and denials) of her husband Russell’s physical and emotional abuse.
When Russell committed suicide last August, many (including cast mate Camille Grammer) claimed this reality had no place on reality TV. The show went on — to record ratings.
“I miss him so badly, and I feel now that I only want to remember the good things about him ” is probably not what one would coach Taylor to say about Russell, especially as “Hiding From Reality, ” her harrowing new memoir, arrives in stores.
While the aim of the reality star’s new book is to tell other women to get out of abusive situations, Armstrong is still too raw and fragile in person to be the evolved, take-no-prisoners, “you go girl” firebrand that’s on the page.
She acknowledges that she is still a bit protective of Russell despite the mostly scathing portrayal of him in the book: “I actually think it’s probably going to get worse, because as time goes on, you start to have selective memories.”
Both in the book and in person, she gives high marks to most of her fellow cast members, who seem to have taken a hiatus from angling for screen time — and trying to out-brand Bethenny Frankel — in order to be supportive.
Her relationship with many of her cast mates, especially Kyle Richards, doesn’t end when the cameras aren’t rolling. She now credits the show with giving her the resolve to break up with Russell before his suicide.
There are some who object to Armstrong rushing out a book about the tragedy, including Atlanta housewife Kandi Burruss and “RHOBH” troublemaker, Brandi Glanville.
“Brandi says things only to incite people,” Taylor says. “She doesn’t feel them, she doesn’t think them half the time, she just says it for attention and ratings.”
While acknowledging that she was shaken by threatening tweets made by a New Jersey teen last week, Armstrong was relieved that police tracked down the perpetrator within 48 hours, adding that she refuses to be bullied out of talking with her fans via social media.
Despite Russell’s death, Armstrong still reflexively refers to the roundhouse punch that fractured her face as “the injury,” almost forgetting that she no longer has to spin what she claims is the real story.
She’s moved from saying that Russell could have been the love of her life (as she did on last week’s “RHOBH” reunion) to acknowledging that he’s “the love addiction of my life.”
While she hasn’t hesitated to talk about Russell and her own role in creating an emotional prison, the book brings to light the full measure of his alleged psychotic bullying.
This includes the attack on her close friend’s fiancé that resulted in $10,000 in reconstructive surgery and Taylor begging them not to press charges; the lie detector test that she sheepishly agreed to take in order to prove that she never had sex with an unnamed NBA star; and his near explosion in front of “Housewives” fans in Texas.
She says she was panic-stricken when Russell told her that he only wanted to keep their baby if it were a girl.
She points to his lack of joy and emotion during the birth of their daughter Kennedy as a warning sign of the mental illness that led a what-seems-to-be-a-textbook narcissist to suicide.
Meanwhile, she laughs off any notion of getting back into a relationship: “I spent 40 years not liking me, so I got to do some work on that history.”