Chankla Face’s late husband Russell Armstrong was NOT a rich man at all, as she tried to make us believe. Russell Armstrong’s attorney Ronald Richards stated that Russell was using all of his savings to finance the charade Chankla Face was keeping up with. The attorney says that Russell burned through all his savings and didn’t retain any money to pay for all this faux lavish show Chankla was trying to front and that they were really living the Beverly Hills lifestyle on a month to month McDonald’s paycheck. Richard’s stated that Bravo didn’t care if their marriage was ruined and that the bitch goddess of reality TV chewed him up and spit him out (well duh?! They didn’t know they were signing the contract with the devil?).
The attorney also disputed the abuse accusations and stated that the problem was Russell and Chankla Face drank too much during their mandatory housewives filming outings and this resulted in physical fights where Russell had to restrain Chankla when she got crazy. I call bullshit on that because we all know there was proof he beat on women before coming from the ex-wife and girlfriend who claim the same thing.
Here is the original article:
NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – A financially troubled Russell Armstrong tried desperately to maintain an illusion of wealth so his wife could become famous on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” but she left him soon after she did, Armstrong’s attorney said Tuesday.
Attorney Ronald Richards said Armstrong, still trying to dig out from a 2005 bankruptcy, spent what money he had trying to help his wife, Taylor Armstrong. He said he last spoke to his client in the days before Armstrong was found dead by hanging Monday.
“He worked hard to get her where she was. Who do you think paid for that lifestyle?” Richards said in an interview with TheWrap. “He was disappointed. … He basically spent all their savings, and didn’t accumulate any savings, to support the show.”
Richards added: “He wasn’t rich. He was just generating enough income to not lose the cover. The expenses were getting higher and higher and he was unable to cover it.”
Armstrong also complained that the show “didn’t care if they ruined his marriage,” Richards said.
Bravo, which airs the show, and a rep for Taylor Armstrong did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Richards discussed his client as Armstrong’s estranged wife and their 5-year-old daughter mourned his death. Taylor Armstrong told People last month that the marriage was at times abusive, and in the
same interview, Russell Armstrong said the show had “literally pushed us to the limit.”
Richards said his client didn’t want to do the show, but wanted to make his wife happy.
“He lost his marriage, he lost his wife, and he was constantly ridiculed by other housewives and by people that would make comments about the show. Stuff that would never have come up was exposed,” Richards said.
“He never thought it would be good for the relationship,” Richards added. “When people want to be famous, it’s worse than getting a junkie off of heroin.”
The attorney also disputed Taylor Armstrong’s claim that his client was abusive, and said many of the couple’s problems stemmed from alcohol. They often drank too much — including at parties they attended for the sake of the show — and Armstrong sometimes had to physically restrain his wife, Richards said.
“If you drink too much with your wife, and one person goes bananas and you grab them and say stop, I didn’t think that was domestic violence,” Richards said. “I thought that was calming your spouse down.”
Armstrong’s financial troubles included a 2005 filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in which he claimed $50,000 in assets and between $1 million and $10 million in debts. He never recovered, and staying out late for the show hurt his business, Richards said.
Taylor Armstrong filed for divorce last month. Richards was representing Russell Armstrong in the divorce and in a lawsuit seeking $1.5 million the plaintiffs demanded in the settlement of a past suit. That suit had accused Armstrong of selling shares in a company and then using the money to redecorate the couple’s mansion and invest in a restaurant.
Richards said Armstrong had a past misdemeanor battery conviction and felony “minor tax conviction” for not paying federal tax years ago.
It seems that Russell’s family is coming out of the woods giving interview after interview. Russell’s nephew and sister have both come out to talk about Russell’s troubled life. His sister states that Russell shot her when they were young, but he also helped her get off meth.
His sister’s son who is also Russell’s 18 year old nephew stated that the show must go on even though it may of being a factor in his uncle’s demise and says he doesn’t blame the show entirely because Russell already had financial and depression issues the show only contributed, but is not to blame:
“I think, in my opinion, Russell should be edited out, in respect to Taylor and the family,” Austin Kelsoe said on “GMA” this morning. “In my personal opinion, Bravo should take the high road and do what they think is the right thing to do.”
I think there were other factors of their marriage that could have led to the ruin of his life,” he said on “GMA.” “I guess the show could have been one of the factors, but I don’t think it was solely based on the show.”
Armstrong’s stepmother, however, believes the show pushed her stepson over the edge.
“I know this show ruined his life,” Gladys Armstrong told “GMA.” “Deep in my heart I know that. Russell was not what he was made out to be.”
She also blamed Taylor Armstrong for adding to the extreme pressure and stress she believes Russell was under.
“I think that Taylor was a little bit responsible,” she said. “He was just pushed to the limit and trying to keep up with the Jones’s.”
In an interview with People magazine that took place a few weeks before his death, Armstrong admitted that “Real Housewives” caused some angst in his actual reality. “It got really overwhelming,” he told the magazine. “When you get a TV show involved, and all the pressure — it just takes it to a whole new level. … We were pushed to extremes.”
Taylor and Russell were, at the time of his death, sharing custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy, who, Armstrong’s business partner confirmed to “GMA,” is not aware of her father’s death.
“She doesn’t know yet, and we want to keep it that way for a while,” said Francisco Martin, one of the people who discovered Armstrong’s body Monday night.
Martin also defended Taylor Armstrong and told “GMA” he believes her actions and lifestyle are not responsible for her estranged husband’s suicide.
“There are so many variables that we have absolutely no idea,” Martin said of what could have driven his business partner to suicide. “I don’t know what was going on in his mind at that point.”
Kelsoe, who described his family as “still in shock” over Armstrong’s death, said he could see the stress the show placed on his uncle.
“He told me he was going to be on it, and he seemed really ecstatic about it, at that point he was happy,” Kelsoe said of his initial conversations with Armstrong before taping for the show’s second season began. “When I visited him a couple of weeks later, he was telling me how stressed he was from the show and stuff like that.”
RadarOnline.com reports that other members of Armstrong’s family are reportedly considering filing a lawsuit against Bravo for contributing to the emotional state that led to his suicide.
“Bravo is at fault and somebody needs to pay,” Russell’s stepbrother Wade Jackson told the outlet in an interview. “Russell’s whole family was very close and they’re considering suing Bravo.”
Bravo has not commented on allegations that the show played a role in the suicide.
Russell’s sister also states that Russell had problems controlling his temper and that when they where small children he “accidentally” shot her in the leg with his dad’s loaded gun and she was in the hospital for like a year and was told she would never walk, but she did. She says Russell resented his father for leaving a loaded gun in the house:
“My brother had anger issues but he was trying to really overcome his resentments,” explains Laurie, 45. “When I was five-years-old and he was six-years-old he accidentally shot me in the leg with my dad’s loaded gun!” Laurie says this childhood mistake has emotionally burdened Russell for years. “He lived with this guilt all of his life and he blamed himself. I was in the hospital for one year, the doctors told me I would never walk again. But I did, I think I started walking again when I was six-years-old. It’s kind of a blur. He was angry at my dad for along time because he should never have left a loaded gun in the house.”
The same sister also gives Russell credit for helping her get off meth and flying her out to a Malibu California rehab center where he paid her stay from Hollywood Life:
“None of us believe he was capable of taking his own life,” continues Laurie. “None of this makes sense. He was full of life and never showed any signs of being suicidal. We spoke quite a bit and the last time we spoke which was last week, he was more concerned about me than himself.”
Laurie confirms Russell was beside himself with grief over his troubled marriage with Taylor. “He did say that he was completely devastated that Taylor wanted a divorce. When he first met Taylor he told me, ‘She’s the one, I have finally met the one!’ Russell is not just Taylor’s estranged husband, he was a father, a brother, a son, an uncle and a grandson.”
Russell very much blamed the RHOBH for ruining his marriage, and Laurie agrees the show drastically affected both him and Taylor. “Everything between him and Taylor changed when she was chosen to be on the show. Yes, they had their problems like any other married couple but the show always edited the footage to make it seem like he was this terrible person. He was always trying to better himself and make amends. Yes, he had a lot of anger issues but he dealt with it and was always trying to make himself a better person but the show dragged him down. At first he was so excited that Taylor got cast and I remember saying to him, ‘Are you sure you want cameras following you around all the time?’ He just seemed so happy for Taylor because this is what she wanted, she wanted to be a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, it was her dream.”
Laurie reveals Russell has been incredibly caring and thoughtful to his family, and was of particular help to her while she fought a meth addiction. “No one really knows my brother, the son who brought our mom out to California when our step-dad passed away. He got her an apt and made sure she was ok during such a difficult time. The brother who knew I was struggling with drug abuse and made sure I got the proper treatment. He knew something was wrong with me and flew me out to LA. He paid for my to go to rehab at the Malibu Beach Treatment Center. I was there for meth addiction and then lived in a sober living house in Brentwood for six months. He visited all of the time.”
Russell’s sister, who now lives in Denton, Texas, credits him for her recovery, and it pains her to know how much he was suffering his final weeks. “In the last couple of weeks Russell reached out to our grandma and said he was struggling, she told him to put it in God’s hands.”
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