Taylor Armstrong Opens Up About Being Bisexual, Including Her 5-Year Relationship with a Woman

The reality star told her new 'Real Housewives of Orange County' castmates that she's attracted to "great souls" first and foremost

Jason Mendez/Getty
Jason Mendez/Getty

For Taylor Armstrong, love knows no bounds!

During Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, the 52-year-old Bravolebrity revealed she is bisexual and opened up about a longterm relationship she once had with a woman.

Armstrong, who is appearing on the Bravo show in a “friend of a housewife” role this season, joined the ladies on their girls trip to Montana when she shared a few facts about herself that not many people know.

Related: Taylor Armstrong Went Through 'So Much Trauma' on 'RHOBH', Promises a 'Different Side' on 'RHOC'

“Are you [bisexual]?” newcomer Jennifer Pendantri asked, to which Taylor joked, “Now are you nervous about me being in the bunkhouse with you?”

The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star explained that she had been in a five-year relationship with another woman before getting married to her late first husband Russell.

“Hell, I know marriages that don’t last that long,” she laughed.

"Most people are surprised to find out that I'm bisexual probably just because of stereotypes,” Taylor explained to the cameras. “I mean it's not something I broadcast, but I'm open to all people who have great souls that you can love."

Photo: David Livingston / Getty Images TV personality Taylor Armstrong and husband Russell Armstrong attend Esquire House LA's 'Songs Of Hope VI' at Esquire House LA on November 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo: David Livingston / Getty Images TV personality Taylor Armstrong and husband Russell Armstrong attend Esquire House LA's 'Songs Of Hope VI' at Esquire House LA on November 4, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

The reality star married Russell Armstrong in 2004 and welcomed their daughter Kennedy in 2006. The two split in July 2011 after Taylor filed for divorce, citing physical and verbal abuse.

The following month, her estranged venture capitalist husband died by suicide in his Los Angeles home. He was 47.

Related: How Taylor Armstrong Has Moved On After Russell's Suicide

Taylor later went on to wed attorney John Bluher in 2014. The duo have been married ever since and moved to Orange County where they live with Kennedy, now 17.

In October 2022, Taylor opened up to PEOPLE at BravoCon about joining RHOC and why it would be different from her traumatic time on RHOBH.

"I went through so much trauma when I was on Beverly Hills," she said. "And now I'm getting to have such a fresh perspective of just being with the ladies and having fun and speaking my truth and not being concerned about what it's like to actually go home at the end of the day."

Referencing her marriage troubles with Russell, Taylor noted, "When I was on Beverly Hills, I had a friend of mine call me [during] season 1 and said, 'I don't know who that girl is on that show, but it's not you. Like, I've known you for 20 years, and you seem nothing like yourself.' I really was having so much drama at home with my marriage and the abuse in my life that I didn't really get a chance to be myself."

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage Taylor Armstrong and husband John Bluher at the TCL Chinese Theatre in April 2016
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage Taylor Armstrong and husband John Bluher at the TCL Chinese Theatre in April 2016

Related: Taylor Armstrong Joins 'Real Housewives of Orange County,' Becoming First Housewife to Move Franchises

The OG Housewife admitted that the abuse made her become "a shell" of herself, who she didn't recognize when watching the series back.

"I just became a ghost, really," she explained. "And when I watched season 1 of Beverly Hills, I was like, 'Eek!' I was like a Stepford Wife. It was just weird to even watch myself realizing I had lost a lot of laughter and a lot of life. So now that I have it back, I'm excited for the fans and the viewers and people who are also coming off of the domestic violence situation to know there is life after."

Taylor also said it felt "freeing to just be like, 'Here's who I am.'"

"People are going to get to know a different side of me," she reiterated about her time on RHOC.

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The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.

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