Last week, Russell Armstrong, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong, hanged himself. Some say his actions were a result of what was about to be aired in the next season of RHBH. Bravo, which airs the series, is now apparently re-editing its latest season because the impeding divorce between the Armstrongs was a major plot point.
Until yesterday, I didn’t know that Armstrong grew up here. Follow the jump and read the note sent to me by his friend Randy Edwards.
Russell “Rusty” Armstrong was my best friend. He lived in Carrollton until he was 15 and then in Dallas where he attended Richardson High School and graduated from in 1982. Because Rusty went to junior high at Dewitt Perry and his freshman year at Newman Smith in Carrollton, he made a lot of friends there. When he went to Richardson, he made a lot of friends there. It was because of our continued REALLY close friendship growing up that he kept in contact with everyone in Carollton. So much so some people thought he did graduate from Smith. It was this friendship that brought me in contact with a bunch of kids from Richardson High School and form friendships with them. Some I remained friends with at Texas Tech and beyond. Which brings me to my point. You could not find one person that knew him at either high school that didn’t think the way he was portrayed was like the complete opposite of who he was and who the tabloid-driven media keeps dragging him down the road. None of his close friends would say he was a perfect person either. He was an engaging, funny, hard worker who loved his kids and loved his wife. He would send me pictures of the kids. I would open it and there would be, like, 200 pictures. I talked to Russ three times in the last two weeks. I know two other people who talked to him. One of them did every day. I knew he was heart broke and said, “They are all piling on.” There is a website dedicated to everything bad about Russell Armstrong. It is in-depth and took someone a lot of time and a lot of money. No one person had the time to do that. Who would benefit? TMZ? Bravo? There is a heart-broke family here in Dallas and a bunch of heart-broke friends, me being one of them. … I am proud to be from Texas and the city of Dallas. My friend Russ was from Dallas, Texas. His name has been wronged. –Randy Edwards
