Things got extra real on last night’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, when star Taylor Armstrong is confronted for her drinking by fellow cast members, including newly sober Kim Richards. The show has followed the ongoing personal struggles of Armstrong, 41, the widow of former dot com millionaire Russell Armstrong, who committed suicide in 2011. Last week, she was shown “losing” her six-year-old daughter as a result of her drinking and in last night’s episode, Richards and her sister staged an intervention. “I believe Taylor has a problem with drinking. Taylor has a lot of pain that she’s dealing with,” says Richards, who recently celebrated a year sober, “and I believe that Taylor is using alcohol to escape from her feelings at times.” Armstrong appears at first defensive, but eventually admits that she has been using alcohol as a coping mechanism. “I don’t drink very often, but when I drink I find that I can forget a little bit about all the stress I’m under and all the pain I’m feeling,” she says. “It’s been a hell of a year, it’s been bad. There are definitely times when if two drinks helps you forget, then four…you start to feel a hell of a lot better. And then the next day I wake up and I’m in the darkest place I can be in.” It remains unclear whether Armstrong will choose to stop drinking or receive any professional help.
