- I accidentally became a meme,
and this is that story.
I'm Taylor Armstrong,
one of the OGs from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"
and a current cast member
on "The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip"
and I'm the woman yelling at cat.
Well, you've seen the picture,
so what exactly am I yelling about?
In order to explain that, I need to go back quite a ways.
I grew up in Oklahoma with a single mom.
My household had abuse when I was quite young
and thankfully my mother was strong enough
to get me out of that situation when I was a toddler
and then I had a really great life
for a child who didn't have a father.
I had visited LA in Orange County a lot growing up
because my parents moved there when I was 17.
So I'd spent a lot of time in LA,
but living in Beverly Hills was a little bit different
than Orange County.
It's quite glamorous and it was a real eye opener
to how the other half lived.
I met my ex-husband at the Four Seasons Hotel.
I was waiting for a friend.
He was there with a large group waiting for a table.
We talked a little bit.
We started dating and my first impression of him
was that he was a little bit aloof,
but he had a very charismatic personality.
I had no idea what was in store for me.
I ended up on "Real Housewives"
because Adrian Maloof and I go way back
and she had gone in for the casting and mentioned me
and then they contacted me
and I went in and things just took off.
They picked the original six of us for a reason.
We had great synergy.
It was the perfect kickoff for "Beverly Hills".
The lifestyle in Beverly Hills is just over the top.
It's glitz and glamor everywhere you look,
but all that glitters isn't gold, I can tell you that.
There's certainly some pressure that comes with it
because you are in a situation where there is arguing
and things can get pretty tense.
We would fight in the day or fight at a party on the show
and then I would go home
and there would be fighting in my home.
While I was filming "Beverly Hills",
I was in an abusive marriage.
My husband was verbally and physically abusing me
for almost six years.
My husband many times told me
that he was afraid he was gonna kill me someday.
When he would get completely out of control,
there were times when I thought that was possible as well.
I was terrified word would get back to my husband
if I shared my story
with any of the ladies on "Beverly Hills"
or really my other friends for that matter.
And it's a real challenge for victims
because you bring your friends
on a roller coaster ride with you,
when I want them to still be nice to him,
but yet they can see that he doesn't treat me well,
but I don't want that to get back to him.
So I'm asking them basically to be nice to someone
who they know is not being nice to me,
and that's hard for your friends and family
and people that love you.
It's a challenge for all victims.
So Camille was another one of our cast members.
She was married to Kelsey Grammar at the time
and she was going through a divorce.
Actually, there were a lot of divorces on "Beverly Hills",
but Camille went through a tough one.
We were at Lisa's tea party.
Camille outed my abuse and I was in shock.
I remember looking over at our producer across the way
and just staring at him,
thinking "something about my life is going to change
because this is gonna end up on television
and I have an abuser who is completely out of control
and I don't know if that means that he's gonna kill me.
Are we gonna get a divorce?
Is this gonna make him behave?
Is he finally gonna go to anger management?
What of all this myriad of options is going to happen?"
I was terrified.
I was walking into the Malibu party in fear
and I don't think anyone recognized
how dangerous my life was at the time.
I was very upset.
He has hurt me so much!
You have no idea what you've done to me!
- I do know.
I do know!
- I really wanted to get my point across
that you don't understand what you've done to me.
You've outed something that can't be put back
and the consequences for me and my child could be dire.
If something were to happen to me,
it would've destroyed my daughter's life.
And for them to not be conscious of that
and to be considerate of the fact
that I was living in fear and in danger.
No you don't!
The last time my former husband hit me
was on my birthday and he fractured my orbital floor
and I have a titanium implant holding up my right eye.
And once I saw the radiographic evidence
of what he had done,
I was able to come to terms with the fact
that this was going way too far.
I could have lost my eye.
Things could have gone even worse at that point.
And I remember waking up in recovery after having my surgery
and my mom and my best friend
were sitting in the room with me.
And then they wheeled me down to see my daughter
and looking at her, I thought, "this is it.
I have to take care of the other people in my life.
Even if I don't have enough self-respect
to get myself out of the situation,
I have to do it for my family and my friends."
The first time I saw the meme, it was in 2019.
Someone sent it to me
and then they started popping up everywhere
and I sent it to Kyle and she was like, "I don't get it."
And I was like, "I don't get it either."
And everybody's like, "why are you yelling at that cat?"
(giggles)
I don't have any idea who the cat even is!
So first of all, I wouldn't yell at an animal to begin with,
but I certainly wouldn't be yelling
at this fluffy little white cat.
Soon it was everywhere.
It was all over the internet.
There were paintings, sweaters,
board games, woodblock prints.
It was insane.
People are so creative and it still keeps coming.
It's unbelievable.
A lot of people have asked me if the meme upsets me
because it was such a traumatic moment in my life,
and it doesn't.
My life back then seems like someone else's life.
It's so far in the past for me
and I've come so far since then
that I find the meme hysterical.
I'm incredibly happy and so much stronger,
so much stronger than I was then.
I work with victims and survivors.
I work with a lot of shelters.
I do a lot of public speaking.
My favorite place to speak is colleges and universities
because I feel like it's the first time
you're away from your parents
and you really have the opportunity to make bad decisions.
So I try to share my story
and tell them all the things I did wrong
that ended me up in an abusive relationship
so that they can make different choices
and stand up for themselves and know their value.
I'm super excited for people to watch
"The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip" on Peacock.
It's berserk in the Berkshires.
Stay tuned!
(cheerful electronic music)