Russell Armstrong’s death was suicide

Added by on August 21, 2011

Russell Armstrong was found dead earlier this week in a Los Angeles home where he was staying. The Chief Coroner Investigator, Craig Harvey, laid all speculations to rest by determining and declaring suicide to be the cause of death.

Russell Armstrong was husband to Taylor Armstrong, star of ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.’ Stars from the cast of ‘RHBH’ reached out to a devastated Bravo family (Bravo TV manages and hosts the reality show) and to a visibly devastated Taylor Armstrong via various channels and media, including the popular ‘Twitter’ medium.

However, while a lot of people were showering sympathy and solidarity in a time of grief, not all were supporting Taylor. Ice-T, a rapper and actor went online and tweeted that this was a ‘bad joke.’ He added that a lot of those ‘wives’ would make him consider suicide.

There has been a lot of debate within family and friends circles that the up-coming divorce from Taylor could be the reason for Russell taking the extreme step. Taylor had filed for divorce in July, after 5 years of marriage to Russell.

However, Russell’s lawyer, Ronald Richards, said that he was also facing some serious financial difficulties that could not be overlooked as a cause for suicide. Russell, a venture capitalist and investment banker, had filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2005. Some of his former clients had recently sued him for US $1.5 million in damages.

Taylor and Russell’s marital problems were the focus of the first season of the reality show and their divorce was going to be featured in the second season, beginning 5th September. The producers are not certain how they will handle the footage in the light of the new development.

After filing for divorce, Taylor accused Russell of verbal and physical abuse, which Russell vehemently denied. He even went on record saying that the show had pushed their relationship and marriage to the limit.

Barbara Fredrickson, Russell’s ex-wife who has a 13 year old son from Russell, blames Taylor for his death saying that she pushed him to financial stress that completely ruined him.

Although investigators have not been able to recover a suicide note, they have concluded the case as a suicide by hanging. Armstrong ended his life on Monday by hanging himself with an electrical cord.