Ronald Richards, who was Russell Armstrong's attorney, is speaking out about his tragic suicide. In an interview with A.J. Hammer, who hosts HLN's "Showbiz Tonight," he said that he's "100% convinced" Armstrong's role in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills created his depression, but that he doesn't blame Bravo for his death.
According to CNN, Armstrong, was defending himself against a multimillion-dollar lawsuit and was "financially drained." His credit cards had also been suspended, the report states.
"I'm 100% convinced and based on facts that this show led to his depression on a couple different grounds," Richards said. "One is that the show characterized him as someone that abused his spouse. It highlighted ancient financial negatives in his past and put him in a spotlight that he wasn't equipped to deal with."
The attorney also stated that opening up your life to a reality television show can lead to problems, and certainly a loss of privacy.
"A network cannot be held accountable to people's voluntarily opening of their doors of their private lives. The adults that allowed this to happen to them are responsible," the attorney said. "The network is justified in making good television out of their conflict."
"Adults need to go into these things with your eyes wide open, (realizing) that if you're going to have a network cover your private life, you become a public figure, people can comment about you and there's a high degree of probability that your marriage will end up in shambles as a result of this newfound scrutiny by the public and by the TV network that is covering our private lives," said Richards.
"Taylor Armstrong is devastated by the tragic events that have unfolded," Armstrong's rep told E! News. "She requests privacy at this time so that she may comfort her young daughter."
The Real Housewives and Bravo send their messages of comfort and support to Taylor Armstrong
