Taylor Armstrong Collapses at Husband's Funeral

Russell Armstrong was laid to rest Wednesday at a private funeral ceremony closed off to the media.

Armstrong, the estranged husband of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Taylor Armstrong, was found hanging by electrical wire in a friend's Mulholland Drive home Aug. 15. The Los Angeles Coroner's office ruled his death as a suicide.

The first of two services for Armstrong took place Wednesday evening at the Church of the Hills-Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills. While some of Taylor Armstrong's cast members were in attendence, there was no official representation from the Bravo network and it was not filmed for the show. A second, private family service will be held for Armstrong in Texas, where he was raised.

A witness told Extra that Taylor Armstrong collapsed with emotion during the service and had to be escorted out by security.

Taylor had filed for divorce from Russell Armstrong in July, claiming physical abuse.

Russell's lawyer Ronald Richards told TMZ that his client had serious financial problems and was distraught over the breakup of his marriage when he took his own life.

I feel bad because his credit cards weren't working, said Richards. He had tremendous financial problems.

He was also extremely bummed out about the divorce with Taylor, Richards added.

Bravo announced plans to re-edit the second season of the The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills amid claims by surviving family and friends that the reality show is partially to blame for his suicide.

Teasers for the second season indicate that Taylor and Russell Armstrong's marital struggle would be a major storyline for the season.

Bravo has not yet made a statement on whether or not the show will air on its originally scheduled premiere date of Sept. 5 or if it will be postponed.

Among the Real Housewives reportedly at Armstrong's funeral today was Taylor's co-star Lisa Vanderpump, who was implicated by Russell Armstrong's mother as having more than her fair share of the blame for his anxiety over the show.

The program itself just really brought him down, Armstrong's mother John Ann Hotchkiss told Headline News on CNN, referring to the on-camera criticism of her son by Taylor's fellow cast members -- particularly Vanderpump . By the end, he was just so distraught by it.

Hothkiss said Russell told her, 'Mom, they're just going to crucify me this season... I don't know what to do. I'll never survive it.'