TODAY
Adrienne Maloof, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" discuss the show's premiere dealing with suicide of cast member Russell Armstrong
ANN CURRY, co-host: Back now at 8:10 with last night's much anticipated season premiere of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." It began with a special interview to address the tragic suicide of the estranged husband of a cast member named Taylor Armstrong. Let's take a look.
(Clip from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills")
CURRY: Adrienne Maloof, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump are three of the women featured on the broadcast. Hey, good morning to all of you.
Ms. ADRIENNE MALOOF (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills): Good morning.
Ms. KYLE RICHARDS (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) : Good morning.
Ms. LISA VANDERPUMP (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills): Good morning.
CURRY: So, so far we've not heard from Ryan--from Russell Armstrong's family in terms of their reaction to last night's broadcast. But I understand, Kyle, that you spoke, and you--in fact, you watched the show, the entire episode last week with Taylor, is that right? What was the--what was her reaction?
Ms. RICHARDS: She thought that they handled it respectfully and in light of the situation she was pleased with the outcome.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: She was supportive of the series being shown.
CURRY: Really?
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm.
Ms. RICHARDS: Mm-hmm.
CURRY: That's really interesting. And Lisa, I know that the producers left in a comment that your husband made--it was taped before Russell's death.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Yeah, six months before.
CURRY: And it--yeah.
Ms. MALOOF: Six months before, yeah.
Ms. RICHARDS: Oh, yeah, six months before.
CURRY: In which he was saying that he personally to go--if he personally had to go into therapy he would feel weak.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm.
CURRY: Do you or your husband feel a little upset with the producer for leaving in that comment in light of Russell's death?
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Yes. I think everything changes in light of what's happened. But it accurate, it was his opinion. I mean, his opinion hasn't changed, but that was regarding himself.
Ms. RICHARDS: Yeah.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: That wasn't regarding Taylor or Russell.
CURRY: Do you think it should have been edited out for sensitivity possibly?
Ms. VANDERPUMP: I understand what you're saying, but I think that was his feeling and that kind of is talked about later on in the series so it was relevant. But that's his opinion about himself, not about anybody else.
Ms. RICHARDS: Absolutely.
Ms. MALOOF: Right.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: And he did apologize to Taylor the next day because he suddenly realized how fragile she was.
CURRY: You know...
Ms. RICHARDS: And he's entitled to his opinion.
CURRY: ...I know that you're--one of the reasons why there's a little tension on the set this morning is that you have read The LA Times review, the scathing review, calling the episode, in rough words, I mean, it's calling it a creepy necro-party game, we're talking about the episode last night, pointing out that while the show's petty infighting as it describes it, was going on, there was a man who is slowly losing his sense of himself, to get to the point where he was going to commit suicide. Do you--do you now, looking at that, listening--hearing that--hearing about that review, reading it this morning, have any doubts about how you behaved? Have any sort of second-guessing?
Ms. MALOOF: First--well, first...
Ms. RICHARDS: We did not see the review. We woke up and came straight here this morning.
Ms. MALOOF: Yeah. But our hearts go out to Taylor, obviously, and her people, her girl.
CURRY: But I'm talking about the show.
Ms. MALOOF: Yeah, yeah.
Ms. RICHARDS: I think that honestly, you know, we--it's very difficult in a situation like this. Yes, we shot this six months ago, and I think Bravo has tried to handle this as responsibly and respectfully as possible.
Ms. MALOOF: Mm-hmm.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm.
Ms. RICHARDS: And it is a very difficult situation. But this show is not just about them, it's, you know, it's about six women and their lives. And, yes, they are a part of it but there's also so much else going on in the show.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Also, I think there were a lot of problems and we had finished filming. And I don't think even Taylor was aware of his mental state. So it was a shock to all of us.
Ms. MALOOF: It was very difficult, very difficult to get to know, always have a wall up, so none of us really could ever predict that this would happen.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: No.
CURRY: So one commentator on "Entertainment Weekly"'s Web site put it this way. "While this show did not cause the suicide"...
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm.
CURRY: ..."they did play a major part in it and they chose to--and they choose to use it to their own advantage." How do you respond to this idea...
Ms. RICHARDS: I don't think that's fair. I really don't think that's fair.
Ms. MALOOF: I...
CURRY: ...that the show exploited this suicide. I want to let Adrienne speak.
Ms. MALOOF: I believe that, actually, the network and with us, we agreed to take the higher road and do something positive, which is to get the message out about suicide prevention, mental illness, depression. So with their PSAs in taking a negative and trying to make a positive. And if we could save one life then our message is getting across.
CURRY: So what is the message? I mean, what is the take-away that you've learned? I mean, really, through your own experience, what have you come away with that has made you understand something deeper that we can all learn from when it comes to being aware of someone suffering in the way, that obviously, Russell did?
Ms. RICHARDS: Well, I think that it's very hard to even say because we were never able to get to know him. I think we're all still confused and shocked by it.
CURRY: It's only been three weeks. So, I understand that.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm.
Ms. MALOOF: Mm-hmm.
Ms. RICHARDS: It hurts. You know, we can't sit there and think what would could we have done. I mean, we have, you know, I think we all felt this sort of, oh my gosh, how come none of us saw this?
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ms. RICHARDS: Including Taylor.
Ms. MALOOF: This is for the same reason...
Ms. VANDERPUMP: But I don't like the fact when they say that the producers of Bravo has a part in this. We
lead and they follow our story, our reality. We just open our lives. I don't understand that.
CURRY: No, but what--they're not saying that, though. They're really--what they're saying is, I think in that criticism they're talking about the idea of exploiting it, talking about it, using it...
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Mm-hmm.
CURRY: ...for the broadcast last--for the show last night. I think that's what their talking about.
Ms. MALOOF: But if you sweep it under the--under the rug, and you don't talk about it...
CURRY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. MALOOF: ...then what good does that do?
Ms. RICHARDS: I can tell you I've an enormous overwhelming amount of support on Twitter and Facebook...
Ms. MALOOF: Yes.
Ms. RICHARDS: ...of people thanking us for addressing it.
CURRY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. RICHARDS: People who have lost parents.
CURRY: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Ms. RICHARDS: And family members to suicide who are thanking, thousands of tweets.
CURRY: So you're hoping that the show last night may have helped people, you're saying?
Ms. RICHARDS: Mm-hmm.
Ms. MALOOF: I actually did research about suicide. And it's the third leading cause amongst young adults and teenagers. It's...
CURRY: Of death.
Ms. MALOOF: ...third leading cause of death, yes.
CURRY: Mm-hmm.
Ms. MALOOF: So those statistics are very scary. So if we can get the word out to look for the warning signs. And somebody needs to start that and this is the perfect platform for that, so I think that's a positive, so.
CURRY: Right. Well, yeah, looking for the positive, I think, whenever there is suffering...
Ms. MALOOF: Mm-hmm, right.
Ms. RICHARDS: Mm-hmm.
CURRY: ...is always a better thing to do and to try to help people through it. And that's what you're talking about this morning. Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Ms. MALOOF: Thank you, Ann. Thank you.
Ms. RICHARDS: Thank you.
Ms. VANDERPUMP: Thank you.
CURRY: And Adrienne Maloof and Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump. And by the way, we should mention that "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" airs on Monday nights at 9, 8 Central on our cable sister which is called Bravo.