‘RHOBH’ alum Taylor Armstrong details late husband’s terrifying abuse: ‘I thought he was going to drown me’

Taylor Armstrong detailed the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of her late husband, Russell Armstrong, while sitting down for a tell-all about their marriage. 

In a new episode of Investigation Discovery’s “Hollywood Demons,” airing April 14, the former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum recalled one incident when Russell pushed her into a swimming pool at a friend’s house and held her under the water.  

“Russell, he left, and this couple, they were very close to me and were very aware of what was going on,” the 53-year-old said during the episode, according to the Daily Mail.  

“The man said, ‘We’ll help you get out of this because this is not okay, and we’re really worried for you.’ Well, Russell was hiding around the side of the house and heard everything,” the mom of one continued.

“He came flying into the backyard. He threw me in the pool. He grabbed the man, knocked all of his teeth out, and he jumped in the pool and he was trying to hold me under the water. I thought he was going to drown me.” 

Taylor also recounted being threatened with her life by Russell, who ultimately died by suicide in 2011. 

“Once [Russell’s sons from a previous relationship] were visiting us and I made them a pizza,” the Bravo personality recalled. “He came into the house, grabbed me by the throat and put me against the wall. He said, ‘If you ever serve my kids a pizza without a vegetable again, I’ll kill you.’” 

In another disturbing revelation, Taylor, who also appeared on “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” said she found recording devices throughout their home, leading her to believe she had no private moments in the marriage. 

Ultimately, it took a fractured orbital floor (a break in the bone that supports the eyeball) in 2011 for Taylor to realize she needed to get out. 

She recalled celebrating her 40th birthday at a Four Seasons Hotel, where Russell gifted her with eight pairs of her favorite shoes and “a really long card and it was all about how he knew he hadn’t been a good husband and that things were going to change,” she said.

Taylor had recently been to Las Vegas with pal Lisa Vanderpump for Lisa’s daughter’s bachelorette party – a party that was filmed for Bravo. 

As she laid in bed with her husband after her own birthday party, she recounted, he “said something to the effect of, ‘I know you slept with the Chippendales when you were in Vegas.’” 

He continued to “push and push, and he would not let up,” she continued.

“He raised up, leaned over like this, and punched me,” she recalled, mimicking the movement. “He fractured my orbital floor and so I went to see the doctor, and Russell went with me.” 

Taylor’s injury required reconstructive surgery, and she subsequently filed for divorce from the venture capitalist in July 2011. One month later, Russell took his life by hanging. 

Taylor, who married Russell in 2005 and welcomed daughter Kennedy in 2006, didn’t see it coming. 

“There was a myriad of things that he was very concerned about, but I never thought that he would kill himself,” she divulged. “Suicide never crossed my mind.”