'Real Housewives' airs marriage counseling of reality star who committed suicide in August

Despite the pleas of Russell Armstrong's family, Bravo has been including him extensively in the past few episodes of 'Beverly Hills'


Footage that Bravo wouldn't keep confidential, even despite the requests of the Armstrongs, includes 5-year-old Kennedy Armstrong's last birthday party with her father, and Russell and Taylor's attempts to save their marriage in therapy.

Ronald Richards, the family's attorney, said last August that “everyone on Russell’s side wants Bravo to edit him out and any characters affiliated with him this season.  It would be bad taste for all three of Russell’s children to air scenes of their father who is dead."

Austin Kelsoe, Russell's nephew, also said, "I think, in my opinion, Russell should be edited out, in respect to Taylor and the family. In my personal opinion, Bravo should take the high road and do what they think is the right thing to do."

As for Bravo's response, in September they implied that insider reports that the counseling sessions would not be cut out were wrong. A rep told Radaronline: “The producers and Bravo are in the process of re-editing the entire series.  As a result, any report regarding the content of upcoming episodes is mere speculation.”

Real Housewife: 'If it weren't for the cameras, there's a chance' husband wouldn't have committed suicide

Taylor Armstrong downplays the role of their reality T.V. show, but Dr. Phil suggests  'exposing the difficulties of your marriage' contributed to death

Widowed Armstrong is on a (questionable motives) media blitz, but perhaps the most revealing interview thus far has been with Dr. Phil (a daytime personality who has emerged lately with surprisingly sharp interview skills), where she talked about how exposing the family's private moments, including the bad, may have pushed her husband to a breaking point.

Will Russell's suicide be a wake-up call in the industry about the dangers of exploiting vulnerable, mentally unstable people, as many have suggested? When Kate and Jon were exposing their divorce on television, how easily could this have happened to them?

'Real Housewives' husband commits suicide

“This show has literally pushed us to the limit,” Russell Armstrong told People about a month before he hanged himself in his L.A. home. 

The Armstrong's rocky relationship has been fodder for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills since the beginning of the show, and the second season was slated to chronicle their messy, expensive divorce. Taylor told People last month that this season of the show was going to be "hard for me to watch." The couple's five-year-old daughter was often featured on the show, including her lavish $60,000 birthday party. Although Taylor told People that Russell was abusive toward her, she was also quick to add that he is an amazing father and she wants him part of their daughter's life.

Will Bravo continue to air the marriage's downfall, even after Russell was found dead yesterday? What role did the stress of airing their dirty laundry on a reality show play in his death? Should their child have a right to have this last season kept private in light of her father's death?

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/real-housewives-stars-husband-russell-armsrong-found-dead/story?id=14316572

Bethenny Frankel starts rocky road of filming her kid

Baby Bryn is part of season two of Bethenny Frankel's reality show, Bethenny Ever After, which airs on Bravo this spring. Said Bryn's mom, if the baby were left out of filming, it "wouldn't be real and it wouldn't be a good show."

Bethenny is also a producer of her show, which gives her more control of what will and won't be filmed. In fact, she chose not to film on her actual birthday: "Jason and I just wanted to spend it together. I had a party the night before but we wanted to just do the day of -- going to get massages and going to dinner. We don't want that filmed because we just want to be able to enjoy it without filming."

So, is Bryn getting paid to just be herself? Infants who play newborns in dramas and comedies get paid to just be themselves. We liked Bethenny when she made brief appearances on Real Housewives to provide occasional Long Island zingers (especially love, "Holy inappropriateness, what the F?!" in response to some dirty lingerie). But when she got her own show Bethenny Getting Married and her controlling, demanding, unforgiving personality was truly revealed? Not so much. We don't think her own show will last long, which is good for Bryn.

Note from Admin: Since there's not much to say about the Gosselins lately, I'm going to start the gradual transition of talking about other kids in reality TV and the state of kids and protections in this uncertain area of entertainment. I picked the domain name realitytvkids.com with this in mind.

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/bethenny-frankel-not-much-is-off-limits-on-bethenny-ever-after-12030.php