For our book club this month, we read Taylor Armstrong’s memoir “Hiding from Reality – My Story of Love, Loss, and Finding the Courage Within”. It was a really quick read (let’s be honest, Taylor is no Shakespeare) but it definitely kept our attention for several reasons. First, obviously, she stars in the hit TV show “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” which is a guilty pleasure of each of ours. Second, her storyline in the last season of the show centered around the suspicion, mystery, and eventual discovery of her late husband’s abuse but never really dove into the details of the situation. Third, the topics of abuse, fame, pretentious lifestyles, etc. were hard to put down.
Taylor goes into every detail about her traumatic childhood, her self-esteem issues, her dependency issues growing up with dozens of inattentive boyfriends, and her horrific marriage to Russell Armstrong, the quiet, reportedly abusive husband to a Housewife that America quickly learned to hate. Taylor’s intentions are good in writing this book – she aspires to inspire abused women to find their voice and find the strength to leave their respective relationships. Taylor never found the courage to completely shut Russell out of her life, and by the time she finally began to find her own direction in life, the damage to Russell’s ego and reputation had been done.
While this was not the most poetic, well-written novel we’ve ever read, it definitely was interesting and made for some great conversation. If you are a fan of the show or are looking to get a glimpse of the mind of a victim of a terribly abusive marriage, we recommend this book.
She goes into every detail about her traumatic childhood and self esteem issues? Please tell me you’re joking! I just finished this ridiculous book myself and was completely shocked that she truly expects readers to understand her “issues” are based on four things
1. She witnessed her father hitting her mother when she was two.
2. Her parents divorced when she was three.
3. They were so poor she had to eat fish fingers for dinner.
4. She was embarrassed about not having a bigger family.
Oh the trauma of it all! She should be ashamed of herself. Does she have any understanding that there are children out there who are living in HELL every single day of their lives and would give anything to have a mother who loves them and makes them fish fingers for dinner. Why doesn’t your book club read the book “Sybil” – this will give you food for thought about real trauma in a child’s life, not the sketchy drivel that Shana Hughes dishes up as an excuse for being a sociopathic, narcissistic, shallow, nasty, manipulative liar and thief!
Felicity – completely agree. I didn’t want to give too much away or go really deep into my opinion in the review, but I agree that she exaggerated. Some people did believe, however, that the early abuse and destroyed marriage set Taylor up for a skewed view on relationships and domestic violence, but I definitely think that she used that as an excuse for Russell’s ridiculous behavior.