The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - Taylor Armstrong's Nightmare To Fairy Tale

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Taylor Armstrong thought she had found her Prince Charming when she met her husband, Russell. Little did this reality TV housewife know that her marriage would be plagued by abuse and grief. From the early possessive signs she overlooked to the way her abuser slowly took control of her life, Taylor shares her story in hopes of saving others from the grips of their toxic relationships. *Note: This episode contains content that some listeners might find disturbing. This episode discusses domestic abuse, as well as suicide.  Email us at: [e-mail] or call us at 844-4-I Do Pod (844-443-6763)Follow I Do, Part 2 on Instagram and TikTokSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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My neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals. And now my ceiling is collapsing. I try to report them, but things keep getting weirder. I think they might be part of a cult. Hold up. A real life cult? And what is a dirt ritual?

No clue, Dakota. Find out how it ends. Listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times. It starts with a dream, a nature reserve, and a spectacular new home. But little by little, they lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night.

everything spins out of control listen to hell in heaven on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts Hey I'm Cal Penn and on my new podcast here we go again we'll take today's trends and headlines and ask why does history keep repeating itself

each week I'm calling up my friends like Bill Nye, Lily Singh and Pete Buttigieg to talk about everything from the space race to movie remakes to psychedelics. Put another way, are you high? Look, the world can seem pretty scary right now. But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future. Listen and subscribe to Here We Go Again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Some listeners may find this content disturbing.

This episode discusses domestic abuse as well as suicide. Please proceed with caution. This is Taylor Armstrong, in her own words. Hi, guys, it's celebrity mentor, Jennifer Fessler, back with you on I Do Part 2. Today, I am so honored because we have so many amazing people come and share their journey to finding love in their chapter 2. And my guest today really went through the fire to find her second love. She is resilient. She's an advocate and she's inspiring.

She's the author of hiding from reality. My story of love, loss, and finding the courage. You know her from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Orange County. Her name, some of you may know the name and know the woman, is Taylor Armstrong. And we're so excited to have you here. And I was like, oh, my God, I love Taylor. We got to know each other, I guess a couple years ago, right? We met in Orange County.

Yes. And I just remember, maybe I just started being on Housewives, and you were so warm and lovely and friendly. And so I was very excited that you're coming on. And vice versa. We had drinks at the Monarch Beach Hotel with Tamara. With Tamara and Emily. Emily.

And one of my friends was in town. Yes, yeah, yeah. It was so great getting to know you. And I was like, she's too sweet to go on New Jersey. I'm worried. Look who's talking. Well, yeah, New Jersey is a scary place. to be, well, I'm a friend of a housewife.

And listen, here's just like the truth of it. Like, I've been a fan of everything housewives since the inception, and I've known you through the TV. And, you know, obviously I have followed you and some of the stuff that you've been through and it is not easy and, or, you know, I'm not going to speak for you, but I think it is so admirable. And I think it sounds like especially right now,

you're really sharing your story. And that can't be so easy to do. Or maybe for you, it is. is easy to do. I don't know, but you know, you have been through it, my friend. I have been through a lot, that's for sure. Unfortunately, a lot of other people have approached me and shared their stories with me over the years and the numbers are vast. I think actually the numbers are so much more vast than the reported numbers just because of the shame and the stigma and everything that goes along with domestic abuse. Yeah. So, but I am approached daily

by people telling me their stories and it's heart-wrenching. It was just so, I don't know, Just like a viewer, it was really overwhelming. And it was like when you were, you know, quote unquote outed, I don't know what we refer to it as now. And I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. But just to know that you were doing this show and everything that comes along with that and then dealing with what you were dealing with.

So, but, okay, so I do part two. We kind of sometimes like to start with part one. Yeah. So can you tell me a little bit about how you met your first husband, Russell, what that was like and what your marriage was like maybe even at the beginning. Give us a little bit of background.

Absolutely. And I do tell my story frequently. I do a lot of public speaking. So I'm an open book. Anything you want to talk about? I love sharing it mainly because it has helping all those other people that are out there that may not realize that they're in a domestic violence situation

or that they're seeing some red flags, but they're questioning themselves. So to go back to my initial relationship, We met in a restaurant in Beverly Hills at the Four Seasons, actually. And it started off great. It was very much fireworks in the beginning. Was it a blind date? Are you just?

We actually were both waiting on a table. I was waiting on a friend. He was with a group and we were both waiting on tables and just started talking. Okay. So, but yeah, I mean, it was just, it was very much fireworks in the beginning. And, but there were red flags literally from the beginning, from the first date. Please do tell. Wow.

From our very first date. Really? Yes. He took me to a restaurant where I was a regular. And so I knew everybody that worked there, obviously. And it was Valentine's Day. And I ordered. And then he said, did you sleep with that waiter? And I thought, what? I mean, I didn't slept with anybody there. And he said, well, I could tell by the way you were looking at him when you ordered. And I thought, what are you talking about? But I mean, so those little red flags, when I do public speaking, especially at university. I try to talk to young people about this, you know, those, when you start to think that was kind of weird, well, it was weird. And then I just let it keep going. And I thought, oh, he must just like me a lot. Because I would talk myself into, because I liked him so much, you know, that I just thought, oh, it's because he likes me so much. He doesn't want me to talk to other guys. And then it just builds. The jealousy builds, the control builds over time. You know, and I had a textile company at the time in downtown L.A. and he started saying, I don't want you to work. You shouldn't have to work. I'll take care of you. And it felt very night and shining armor at first.

You know, I thought, he said downtown's dangerous. I don't want you going down there. And so I gave up my company. And so that night and shining armor effect, all of a sudden, now I gave up my own financial capabilities. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm sorry. Okay.

So just because it's like overwhelming, like just even the fact that he, that on your first date, How old were you? Oh, my gosh. Let's see. 34. Okay. It just seems like a lot.

So what was it about him, though, when you first met him that you found so appealing? An interesting attribute of abusers is they can be very traumatic, right? Charismatic, you know, life of the party. And I think that's why when the abuse all started to come out, a lot of people were like, what? He would never be, he would never do that. Like, he's this charismatic guy. And it's so common. I hear it all the time.

I interviewed someone in the past who was married to the wolf of Wall Street. My name is Nadine. And she has, we're not going to, we don't need to get into that now, but she has such a similar story about how charismatic, they made a movie about him. Right. He was, right? And in the end, it was, um, it wasn't good. Go on.

So you met him, he was charismatic. Very charismatic. He found him attractive. Yes. He had that night and shining armor kind of feel to the whole thing, like being wanting to take care of me and all. of that, which felt great. And I grew up without a father. So the whole, I could get myself into a position where having a man say he wants to take care of me is like extra love bombing

for me. Yeah. Love bombing. Yeah. Yeah. Just because that's something I missed in my childhood. Yep. And so that as we went forward, you know, it was I want you to sell your company. And then you should be a mom because you have so much love to give. It would be a shame for you not to be a mom. Did you want to be a mom? I was kind of on the fence. I thought I will, I'll be the be a business person or I'll be a mom. I wasn't going to try to do both. And so then I had now I had let go of my company. So I thought, okay, you know, then the mom role feels great. I can be a stay-at-home mom and really be devoted to that role in my life. And so, of course, biggest blessing in my life, my daughter Kennedy, but then that was really another form of control because

now he's taken away my financial capabilities and now I have his child. So the walls, even though I was so overjoyed having Kennedy, the walls were closing in, you know, with the amount of control he had over my life. And shortly after that, you know, the jealousy was continuing. And then there would be some of the, um, just slight criticisms, like your hair is too long, your hair's too short, your dress is too long, your dress is too short, you know, there was never a right length of the dress or length of the hair. You know, I'm just using those as a metaphor, but you get what I'm saying. You laugh too much, you don't laugh enough, you talk to people at my business dinners too much, then the next time I would talk less, and then he would say, oh, you didn't talk to anyone

because you're stuck up and you think you're too good for everyone. So it was just constantly like managing it. And managing it. And, you know, I said, when I watched season one of Housewives, I was, I literally was watching me thinking, who is that person? Because I had become such a shell of myself being afraid to have my big personality or laugh too much. And so I really was watching me thinking, I don't even know who I am. And one of my very long-time friends called me

and he said, I don't know who that girl is on that show, but it's not you. During when it was happening. Yeah, when it was airing. Yeah. And he just said, I don't know what's going on in your life, but that is nothing like your personality. So I was just sitting here with you

and getting to know you, and I also was a viewer, I feel the exact same way. Exactly same way. Like it wasn't, you didn't, being honest, you didn't seem like a real person. Like you just, it was all, it felt like it was all just show and putting up, you know, painting this picture. Yes. In a way. Yes.

And I want to talk about you starting the show, but I just have to ask you this. It's so funny if you felt like this. So because my daughter has said this to me and it freaked me out. I don't think she feels like this anymore. But that she's sort of like, she's like, I kind of like guys that are jealous. Um, I kind of feel like, you know, I don't know, I want them to be a little jealous. Like, it shows me like that they really like me. Yep.

Now, I mean, there are degrees of everything. But did you feel like that at first? Like, I like that he's a little. Yeah, absolutely. I felt like it's because he's so crazy about me, you know? And that comes from my lack of self-esteem and lack of self-confidence to be like, oh, someone likes me enough that they care. That was my daughter, too, because she didn't.

It's not about her. But she didn't have, she wanted a boyfriend so badly in high school, didn't happen even through college. And she felt like that, she wanted a boy to care about her that much. And it's so, that is just so skewed and scary, right? Like, you know, we all have a little bit of the jealousy thing, but. Yeah. I mean, there's a normal level of jealousy. If you have an overly flirtatious partner, I don't have a flirtatious bone in my body.

It's just not who I am. I don't blame anyone that does. I just, it's just not part of my personality. Right. But I also don't have a jealous bone in my body. So for me, the whole thing is like unfathomable because I'm just, I'm not jealous and I'm not flirtatious. So all of his accusations were completely unfounded and the things that he, like, thinking I'm flirting with a waiter, it was just like, I just looked at him in order. There was nothing more to it.

And so it was little things like that in the beginning that I certainly should have recognized, but I didn't want to. So that's what we do. We run right by all the red flags when we want to stay with the person that we're with. And then the things that really started happening with him that started getting really weird as far as the jealousy goes is that he started recording me. And so the first time I found a tape recording device, I was at my desk in the house

and my printer had stopped working. So I crawled under my desk to unplug it and re-plug it. And I was backing out from underneath the desk. And I looked up and I saw this recorder, a little small recording device, like you would use in college in a class. and it was hanging by picture hooks underneath my desk. And, like, took me a minute because I just thought, you know, it was so out of place that I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

And so I grabbed it and I started listening to it, and it was me. And he had been recording me. Was this before or after the show? This was before the show. We often think we know our type and dating. tall, funny, a certain job, but the research shows we're usually not the best predictors

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But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future. Listen and subscribe to here we go again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Crying Wolf Podcast is the story of two men bound by injustice. of a city haunted by its secrets

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You stuck with me for life. Listen to the Crying Wolf podcast, starting on October 22nd, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. You get your podcasts. The forces shaping the world's economies and financial markets can be hard to spot. Even though they are such a powerful player in finance, you wouldn't really know that you are interacting with them. And even harder to understand. Donald Trump's trade war, 2.0, is only accelerating the process of de-dollarization,

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This person writes, my neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals, and now my ceiling is collapsing. I try to report them, but things keep getting weirder. I think they may be part of a cult? Hold up, Sophia. A real-life cult? And what is a dirt ritual? No clue. But according to this person, contractors are tearing down the patio to find out what's going on with their ceiling,

and her neighbors are not happy. Well, she needs to report them ASAP. She did! And now they've been confronting her in really creepy ways all the time. So do we find out if this person survives their neighborhood cult or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Halloween is around the corner and your favorite podcasts are serving of episodes that are so good, it's actually scary. Sex in the City meets Severance when Adam Scott joins Kristen Davis to discuss the haunting relationship between Big and Natasha on Are You a Charlotte?

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to talk about the ballroom, the leaderboard, and more. Listen now on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, so you already know he's, I mean, I don't know what you want to, like, really acknowledge for your, you wanted to really acknowledge for yourself at this time, but obviously you knew he was off. So the question that I had, and I think probably you get all the time now, is what was that like deciding to go on reality TV?

The fact that he even, like, gave the go ahead for it is, feels so shocked. talking to me, the fact that you were not too scared of, or maybe you were and you thought it would be helpful. Tell us, like, how you got, how did you get there? Right, right. Well, when I decided to go on the show, and this is me in retrospect, I certainly wasn't aware of it at the time. Right. You know, as we talked about, he was very charismatic and he was very narcissistic, and he thought everyone loved him. And so he definitely saw the show as an opportunity for him. from a business perspective, but also he just thought the world would fall in love with him. And needless to say, it was quite evident even in season one that people could tell there

was something off there. So he was thrilled for me to go on the show. I, as I was saying in retrospect, wonder if I thought, because there's a good version. There was a good version of him, like all abusers, I would say. And if I could keep him being the good person, the good version all the time, well, he was good in public because he wanted to be the life of the party and be charismatic. So if you put a camera in our house, now you're in public again, right? So abuse doesn't happen as often in the restaurant or the mall.

You know, it happens once you get behind closed doors. So Taylor, you think it was like, it was almost like it made you feel safe to think that you guys were going to be on camera. Yeah. And at the same time, he's not going to hit me and take a risk that I'm going to have a bruise, you know, on camera. You know, he could easily have me just cover it up if it was just going to be at home or how long did the abuse start after you guys got married? The physical abuse. Yeah. So I was, it was November and I had gave birth to Kennedy in February.

So let's see, November, December, January, so I was, I would have been five months pregnant, six months pregnant. I was a little bit more pregnant than that. So it might be late November. And that was the first time that he ever choked me. We were getting ready to go to a charity event. You're pregnant? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And then obviously it just, obviously it kept going, but it was how long after you had Kennedy before you got on the show? So I had Kennedy in February and we celebrated her fourth birthday in season one. So, and that was, let's see, we got, she was born 2006. Okay. So we went on Housewives 2010. She was four. And it's just, I can't even imagine how much had to be swirling through your head. And just knowing that he was, he could, he was abusive.

And you now have cameras in your house. And how much you had to deal with cover up. I mean, when the cameras went down, because I think, for me, they would go down. I don't know what the situation was back then, but, you know, they didn't maybe record on the weekends or. what that was like. It must have been just hideous. Yeah. Well, and you, of all people, know, the show is very anxiety-inducing to begin. Yes, it is. Having your friends fighting, you know, you don't know what's going to pop up, you know, and what's going to spark something. Right. And so I always had a little, I guess, Emily is a terrible word, but of like Kyle getting

ready, getting to go home to her beautiful family life after a tough day of. filming or a tough night of fighting on the show. I don't think that's a horrible word. I would feel the same way. Yeah. And, you know, Lisa. And, you know, so they could go through the anxiety of the filming and then go home to have support. And for me, I would go through the anxiety of filming to what was actually scarier anxiety going home, not knowing what was going to happen next. And, you know, and then you start replaying the tapes all the time of the words that they say. And for me, the physical abuse, obviously, is horrible. But the verbal abuse, Sometimes women will say to me, well, I don't know. I mean, he yells at me and calls me names. I don't know if I'm being

abused. And my response is if you have to question yourself whether you're being abused or not, you are. And it's not okay for somebody to scream at you and call you names. But those parts, those tapes that you replay, so I would be in Kennedy's playroom, coloring with her, playing dolls, whatever. And, but I wasn't really there. Because my mind was on what's going to happen tonight or what happened last night or what's going to set him off today or what all the horrible things he said to me a week ago you know it really robbed me of the years with kennedy of always just being on edge and fight or flight all the time did you have anyone like just the whole story is is not i know unfortunately the story of abuse is not so uncommon but the story of somebody being on reality TV and having to deal with not only the pressures of that,

but the potential of being exposed. And then it's just, it is, it is, seems just so overwhelming. Did you have anyone that you, a friend or somebody that you could trust during that time that knew what was going on? Yeah, it definitely was, as we said, anxiety provoking. That's when I wrote my book, it's called hiding from reality, because that's what I was trying to do is hide my reality from reality TV. So my assistant at the time, she lived in my house, and she actually, I've known her since she was born. Her mom was my cheerleading coach. And so she was there and knew, but she was afraid of him also.

So even though she could be a support system for me, she wasn't going to jump in the middle of anything. She's young. Very young. Yeah. Yeah. Early 20s. So, but she definitely. Did you talk to her?

Yeah, I could talk to her. Yeah. She was great. Are you still? Oh, yeah. I was on. With her yesterday. Really?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's family. So, yeah, she was definitely there, but I didn't want to talk to my mom about it. My mother's the sweetest lady, and I'm an only child, so I just knew it would destroy her. And also, I didn't know what my mom's reaction would be if she would want to try to intervene. And I certainly didn't want that happening with him because he was very dangerous. And I just didn't want her to get involved. How many, see, I can't even imagine.

Imagine, like, how many scenes did you have to cover up cruises or hold it together after something terrifying that happens? Like, how did you even, I don't know how you kept it together? I mean, how did you make it look like it wasn't happening? Because I remember when it came out, I was surprised as a viewer about it. So I wish you hadn't for your own sake, but you did a good job, I guess, of keeping it quiet. Yeah. I mean, did you have techniques around it? Was it, you know, was it the makeup of the whole thing that you could hide your bruises

or like talking to yourself, getting yourself to a place where you could actually do this? Right. I think it was an escape for me. Yeah. Because I would get to go be with the girls. And it wasn't like when I got home, I was going to be drilled about who I had dinner with, you know, because he knew the cameras were there and that I was with the girls. And so it was almost like I would get to go enjoy.

my life without the scrutiny of him quizzing me when I got home. And how did the girls find out? Well, I remember Camille outed you or whatever, however we want to, you know, put that. So, Adrienne and I were in Mommy and me together with our babies. Right. And so she knew that I had challenges in my relationship. She didn't know the exact extent, but she would see me, you know, in the morning. at mommy and me, you know, with upset or whatever, not with bruises or anything. But what I was

going to say about the hiding things is abusers are very clever when it comes to abuse, especially when they know that you're going to be on television. Right. Right. So one of his favorite tactics would be to grab me by one side of my head, my hair, and then bang my other side of my head against things. So it's all in here. So you can't, obviously, there's nothing visible. I tried a couple times to have my nanny like separate my hair so we could get photos um but he knew to do things like pull my hair or he would grab me by the arm really hard but like up here where i could wear a shirt or whatever but um so that was kind of more on him than me to hide it i feel like and then with the girl so adrian knew that we had some challenges and more than that and there was beverly hills is a small

town, you know. So it wasn't like other people didn't know that this was going on. There were certainly enough people that knew. And it was kind of like a rumbling. Did anybody try to intervene or to even like ever approach Russell or? No. No one said to you, you know, I think this is going on. Nobody came to you and said, talk to me. There is an interesting scene where Adrian, you know, Adrian's into kickboxing and she had me over. for a private kickboxing lesson. And I think that was her way of trying to give me some tools. We did it on camera and it was all in fun, obviously.

But it was her way of saying, let me at least give you some self-defense. Would you have been open at the time to even, especially with the cast, if let's say Adrian came to you and said, I think that this is going on, you think you would have been open to, you know, trying to let her in, let her help you,

when you were still filming and she was your, you know, colleague at the time? I mean, are you always hiding, hiding, hiding? Well, I mean, the kickboxing lesson was definitely an indication that, you know, she she was aware and wanted to give me tools without trying to get in between the situation. And then I went to Camille and met her off camera in Malibu, and she was going through her divorce with Kelsey. Right. And so I, one of my biggest concerns, like,

Unfortunately, so many mothers was custody. Of course. I mean, the thought of me sharing custody with this maniac who could blow off the blow the lid off the pot at any moment was just unfathomable to me. There was no way I was leaving my little girl with him on a weekend. And he had never done anything to Kennedy, but because I had seen his rage spike so heavily, so quickly. Can you ever see him do anything to you? Well, it's interesting to ask that because when she was little, when she was around like,

I'm going to say like maybe three when he and I would be in the office and it would just be matter of fact stuff maybe like okay we have a dinner on Monday you know just kind of going through our schedules even something that simple she would come and stand in between the two of us and I would be like what are you doing like go play or like I don't know why she's standing here and of course now in looking back you know I was in as I said such a flight or flight mode I couldn't really observe that that's what was going on but I feel like that is what was going on. And then, and we'll fast forward, but later on, she had, she made some comments when she was around five or six, and I'll, we'll, we'll share that when we get to the next part of the story. But, um, so I went to Camille and, um, I said, tell me how this is going with custody and how does this all work and your attorneys and just trying to figure out how I can make an exit plan and keep Kennedy safe. And, um, and so I talked to her about it.

And I had just come back from the Super Bowl with him, and he had knocked my jaw out of the socket at the Super Bowl at the house, in the bathroom. I was in the bathroom after he did it. But you were at the Super Bowl? You were at the Super Bowl party? Well, no, we were at the actual Super Bowl. And then you went to the bathroom. And we went home. No, we went to a restaurant after.

And then I was in, we were, I was talking to a waiter again, not flirting with him, just ordering, I guess, or a bartender, whatever. And there was a stairwell there. and this was in Dallas and he took me out into the stairwell and like went crazy and then I knew because I could always tell it was almost like his eyes would turn black and he wouldn't blink at all when he would start to go into a rage and I that was happening in the stairwell and I knew that that was going to be a really bad night and he'd been drinking and went to Super Bowl all day which always exacerbates things you know so we got back he hit me in the face and my jaw was like like over to the side and I couldn't shut my mouth. And so then I was like laying over the toilet with just saliva pouring out of my mouth trying to figure out how it's going to get my jaw like reset and he wouldn't let me call 911. So I shared that with Camille when we were in Malibu. So that's when we're at the tea party fast forward, which of course with you, as you know, tea parties always mean champagne on housewives. Yeah. So we were at Lisa's and she said we don't

say he hits you. We don't say he broke your jaw at the Super Bowl. So that's where that came from. It's like just, it's so, it's just even hearing the specifics because you, obviously, there's abuse everywhere, unfortunately, and you know, you've heard of women that have been or, like, it's just even like, just hard to even hear the specific stories. It just can't even, like, imagine sickening. No, don't. You have to come behind me. I know, I know. But, you know, it's important. You don't think about, like, the specifics and the fear must have been so awful.

It was terrible. And I will say that later on, you know, the rest of the season was so tumultuous because there's, like, two sides. Like, Kyle and Lisa supporting me. And then it was odd because Adrian and Camille kind of turned against me and were questioning things. And it was, it was very surprising how that all shook out on the show. It was really hurtful to me. No one can resist a rule of culture. So here's one for the dating files.

Rule of culture number 72. Chemistry isn't just vibes, it's values. Because what's the point of matching with someone if you can't talk about the shows you binge, the books you dog ear, or all the hot takes, you'll defend it brunch? I mean, you definitely have friends who have met their partners on Bumble,

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With that added peace of mind, it's so much easier to show up as your full self. So whether your rule of culture is, the best first dates start with the shared hot take on Renaissance or compatibility as having the same hometown bodega order, download Bumble, and turn those connections into something bigger. Download Bumble and start your love story. Hey, I'm Cal Penn, and on my new podcast, Here We Go Again. We'll take today's trends and headlines and ask, why does history keep repeating itself? You may know me as the second hottest actor from the Harold and Kumar movies, but I'm also an author, a White House staffer, and as of like 15 seconds ago, a podcast host. Along the way, I've made some friends who are experts in science, politics, and pop culture.

And each week, one of them will be joining me to answer my burning question. questions. Like, are we heading towards another financial crash like in 08? Is non-monogamy back in style? And how come there's never a gate ready for your flight when it lands like two minutes early? We've got guests like Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrams, Lili Singh, and Bill Nye. When you start weaponizing outer space, things can potentially go really wrong. Look, the world can seem pretty scary right now because it is. But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future. Listen and subscribe to Here We Go Again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Crying Wolf Podcast is the story of two men bound by injustice, of a city haunted by its secrets, and the quest for redemption, no matter the price. White victim, female, pretty, wealthy, black defendant. Chicago, a white woman's murder, a black man behind bar. for a crime he didn't commit. I had 90 years for killing somebody I have never seen. He says the police are his friends and then that's it. They turn on it. A corrupt detective.

How he was interrogated the techniques. That's crazy. A snitch and a life stolen. They got the wrong guy. But on the inside, Lee Harris finds an ally in his cellie, Robert, who swears to tell the truth about what happened to Lee and free his friend. If you're with me, your goal. I'll take care of you.

I'm going to be with you. You stuck with me for life. Listen to the Crying Wolf podcast, starting on October 22nd, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The forces shaping the world's economies and financial markets can be hard to spot. Even though they are such a powerful player in finance, you wouldn't really know that you are interacting with them. And even harder to understand. Donald Trump's trade war, 2.0, is only accelerating the process of de-dollarization, which in a way is jargon for people turning away from the dollar.

That is where the big take from Bloomberg podcast comes in, to connect the dots. How unusual is a deal like this? Unprecedented. Every weekday afternoon, we dive deep into one big global business story. The biggest story of the reaction of the oil market to the conflict in the Middle East is one of what has not happened. Katie, you told me that ETFs are your favorite thing. They are. Explain that. Why is that the case?

And unpack what it means for you. Our breakfast foods are consistent consumer staples, and so they sort of become outsized indicators of inflation. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I live below a cult leader, and I fear I've angered her. Well, wait a minute, Sophia. She's a cult leader.

Well, Dakota, luckily it's I'm not afraid of a scary story week on the OK Storytime podcast, so you'll find out soon. This person writes, My neighbor's been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals, and now my ceiling is collapsing. I try to report them, but things keep getting weirder. I think they may be part of a cult. Hold up, Sophia, a real-life cult? And what is a dirt ritual? No clue.

But according to this person, contractors are tearing down the patio to find out what's going on with her ceiling and her neighbors are not happy. Well, she needs to report them ASAP. She did. And now they've been confronting her in really creepy ways all the time. So do we find out if this person survives their neighborhood cult or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And then she said what she said, were you at that point scared to death?

Were you, was there any relief in it? Like, okay, finally, the truth is out? Like, how was that when it happened, especially with the cameras there? What was going through your head? I remember very specifically just feeling like I was in shock. And our field producer was standing straight in front of me. And they have the monitor. And I just remember, I felt like I stared at him for,

like a full minute. I'm sure it was just a matter of seconds, but it felt like the longest pause of my life. I was just staring at him thinking, you cannot put this on the air. Like I was like this cannot get out. How many seasons in were you at this point? This is season two. This is your second season. So you had already been through the first where people are not necessarily thinking he is the night and shining armor. I don't know how he reacted to that, to the airing of it. Now you're in two and this comes out. You must have been scared to death. Scared to death. And I, In that moment, it was just such a long, I felt like such a long pause, as I said, and I was thinking to myself, okay, something's about to change, and it's going to be either. He used to

tell me all the time, I'm afraid I'm going to kill you someday. And I thought, so, okay, so he's either going to kill me, divorce me, and I'm going to have a chance for a new life, or something, either something hugely explosive is going to happen, or maybe he'll get help, anger management help and he'll become a men's advocate. I mean, I might not have been thinking that in the moment, but eventually I was telling him, this is what you should do. You should come out and say, I have an anger problem, become an advocate for men. Like, this is the only way you're turning this around. I can't believe that at some point you were trying to help him. I know. After all of that, you're trying to figure out how to save him. Yeah, trying to make it still look like

it wasn't as awful as it really was. I think about the part, like, I don't, I don't know, just the fact that you were so scared of Kennedy having to be alone with him. That must be such, that must be so common because I don't, I, I haven't thought about that part of it when I thought about women that have gone through this and the part that like, even if it's just for a weekend or at the beginning where, you know, you don't know what the court is going to decide. That must be, that piece of it must be so overwhelmingly scary, frightening, horrific, right? Like, I don't, when you said it, I'm like, yeah. like that puts a whole different level on it because what if you're not in control and what if some court says that he gets to take Kennedy for even the first week that's like a whole other aspect of it yeah it's unfathomable as a mother and i i would like to emphasize though that so he would threaten me so he's got the financial control and now he would say to me go ahead call the police then i'll have to go to jail so then i won't work And then, and I had no access to finances. He wouldn't give me access to any money.

I had a black card. I could charge whatever I wanted. It wasn't limit, he wasn't limited to me on spending. But then the black card became a great tool for him because he could pull up my Amex statement and see where I was at all times. And, you know, then we would go through these quiz sections. This is one of the times when Kennedy would come stand in the room where he would say, okay, you were at coffee bean on Wednesday and you spent $14.

And I know what you drink there. So you must have bought something for someone else. like, you know, who were you with? And I, if I said, my friend Linda, he'd go, I don't believe you. And in looking back, it's, I mean, it's not funny, but I would think to myself, do you think if I went to coffee with a man, A, I would pay? It's a little funny. And I would go to a public place like coffee bean where I would be seeing people the whole time. I mean, but I would never say that because that would have just sparked an inferno of him then going into another rabbit hole of thinking, oh, so she goes to coffee with men, but she just doesn't pay for it, you know?

Of course. There was nothing you could say right. There was no, nothing. So we would go through that exercise, but going back to it, he would say, okay, go ahead, put me in jail, then I'll have no income, and you have no access to our bank accounts. So his bank accounts, my bank account was separate, but he never would give me any cash. So then I'll be in jail. I'll have no money.

And then once I get out, I will drag you through the court system, and I will bankrupt you and your family. and then I will have you deemed an unfit mother because you have no financial capabilities and then I will take Kennedy and oh and I'll have you living in a cardboard box and those tapes that were playing for me all the time were thinking he has the ability to do this and he would do it just in order to win

and to have all that control and I encourage when I talk to young people and when I speak I'm speaking at the YWCA next month in Chicago. But when I speak to big groups, I try to remind them that there are so many social services out there that prevent the extreme differential and financial capability in the court system

when it comes to custody. So if that's a fear for someone out there, I just want people to know that they don't let that happen in the court systems. Yeah. I have a friend who was going through divorce. She was very scared to get divorced because he had said to her,

you know, you're going to end up with nothing. And I guess at one point when they finally were decided to get divorce, he said, you have a choice. I'll give you this amount, or you'll decide to get lawyers, and at the end of it, you'll be homeless and bankrupt. So take what I'm offering you now. And I remember saying to this friend, so, like, I know you think after all of these years that he's God, like, I know you think that he has full control,

but that's not how this works. Right. You know, even though you're so scared because you've been under the impression all these years that what he says is law. Yep. You know, but I love it you're like talking about that that's just not, does not have to be the case. Correct. And if that's the reason you're staying because you're afraid of the disparity in the court system, I have worked with shelters all over the country and learned all about social services programs that are out there.

And there are a myriad of them that are very helpful in the custody arena for sure. Yeah. So if that's a fear for anyone listening, that is not, don't let that be your holdback. Wow. So when it came out on the show, did you go home and tell Russell? I went home and called my friend Dr. Charlie Sophie, who I actually credit for saving my life. Really? Yeah. He was on the show with me in season one. It was at the finale by my side. We were friends, but he also runs Children and Family Services for Los Angeles County and the foster program. And so he was someone that I could confide in about my fears about the custody and everything that was going on. So he was there when you were going through all of it?

Wow. Yep. After Camille outed it, then that's when I started engaging with Dr. Sophie. And I talked to him and I said, I can't put this genie back in the bottle. I don't know what to do. Like, this is going to come out. And so we kind of mapped out, like, you know how it is with the editing. and everything, like, okay, when do you think this is approximately?

How much time do we have to slowly figure out a plan here? And so at that point, I was talking with Dr. Sophie about, like, we're going to have to let Russell know. Because if he gets blindsided with this, it's going to turn out worse. Like, that would be when the rage would hit the all-time high. So we started going to couples counseling with Dr. Sophie. Were things getting, I'm sorry, just so many things were rushing through my head, but was it getting, before it came out? Like, was it getting worse because he had seen himself in season one?

And so was he, was the abuse getting even, you know, worse now that he was conscious of how he was coming off? And I'm just, my head is spinning. You must have been so scared. Yeah. And it actually does come out. I mean, was it, was it, and again, in season two, was it, he wasn't more nervous about looking like an asshole on camera or was he even more angry? He definitely didn't like the way he looked. looked on camera and there were people saying, oh, so this is a day, I went on Wendy Williams

and, bless her, and she said, he abuses you, doesn't he? And I was like, no, no. I mean, but it came out of nowhere and of course I wasn't going to go, yeah. So I was like in a panic because I knew when he saw that episode, he was going to, and so of course I immediately just stuttered over and covered it up, but it was evident to other people. And there were, people were saying, like, you can tell he's controlling or he seems scary. And it was interesting for me, too, because I, as I was saying earlier, sometimes you need confirmation that you're actually being abused, which it breaks my heart for people, just, but I was in that realm too because he would say to me, what are you complaining about?

Like, you have it all. You have the house, you have cars, you have a black card, you have a full-time nanny. Like, what are you bitching about? You know, your life isn't so bad. And, you know, and so then I would wrap my head around, okay, wait, maybe I'm not being abused because I'm being taken care of. My daughter's being taken care of. And, you know, and then I could, he could talk me into believing maybe I'm not being abused.

And he'd be, he'd gaslight me. Just be like, you're just crazy. You're too sensitive. You're weak. You know, you're fine and you have this beautiful life. And then I would feel like, okay, I guess I have a lot to be thankful for. And that's another thing that happens so frequently is where, we can have an abuser that is convincing us.

And he would say, you're the only one that makes me this way. You're the only person that makes me this angry. And you make me act like this. And so I could kind of say, okay, maybe if I don't laugh too much, then I won't set him off again. Like we talked about earlier, if I don't laugh too little, then I won't set him off. So I would start to think, okay, maybe that was my fault last night.

And such a common theme that that's how it starts working, you know, when you're just talking to yourself around it. I remember coming to terms of that. over my childhood, like always thinking it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. And then as I as I got older, I was like, wait a second. But again, I'm all over the place, Taylor, because your story is so compelling. And I don't mean it in like a beautiful, wonderful way. I mean in like a very sad, but you're so open and honest about it. Of course. I appreciate. Yeah. Taylor, there is so much more that I want to talk to you about. You're my hero. And I have more questions and more

discussion to be had, but maybe this is a good time. Just take a break. And you guys will be right back with Taylor Armstrong. who almost pulled it off. It was kind of like the perfect storm in a sewer. That was dumb. Do not follow my example. Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I live below a cult leader, and I fear I've angered her.

Wait a minute, Sophia. How do you know she's a cult leader? Well, Dakota, luckily it's I'm not afraid of a scary story week on the OK Storytime podcast. So we'll find out soon. This person writes, my neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals, and now my ceiling is collapsing. I try to report them, but things keep getting weirder.

I think they might be part of a cult. Hold up, a real-life cult? And what is a dirt ritual? No clue, Dakota. Find out how it ends. Listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one of them will end up. and the other tried for murder three times.

It starts with a dream, a nature reserve and a spectacular new home. But little by little, they lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Chicago, a white woman's murder, a black man behind bars, for a crime he didn't commit. 90 years of killing somebody I have never seen. The Crying Wolf podcast is the story of a corrupt detective, two men bound by injustice,

and the quest for redemption, no matter the price. Listen to the Crying Wolf podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Cal Penn, and on my new podcast, here we go again. We'll take today's trends and headlines and ask, why does history keep repeating itself? Each week, I'm calling up my friends like Bill Nye, Lily Singh, and Pete Buttigieg to talk about everything from the space race to movie remakes to psychedelics. Put another way, are you high? Look, the world can seem pretty scary right now. But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little bit.

better about the future. Listen and subscribe to here we go again with Cal Penn on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.