Richard McLaren/BravoIt hasn't been an easy year for Taylor Armstrong.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is continuing to recover from her family tragedy after her husband Russell Armstrong took his own life less than two years ago, leaving the mother of one devastated and broke.
Although fans of the hit Bravo show have seen the reality star struggle with extreme sadness this season (often using alcohol to cope), Taylor sits down with E! News and admits she's finally moving on with her help of her new man John Bluher, putting her best foot forward for her 6-year-old daughter Kennedy.
"I would say probably nine months following the tragedy absolutely I was medicating myself," she admits to E! News, addressing her alcohol abuse. "I was in shock and scared and really didn't know how to cope with any of it…In my mind I would be falling apart and so a glass of wine helped, two even better and by three I could actually think about laying down and potentially going to sleep at night."
She continues, explaining her recent trip to the mountains with her daughter Kennedy and her boyfriend was incredibly cathartic and helped her gain perspective:
"I had enough support and enough friends around me that said ‘You need to go through these emotions'…that's why I made the decision to go away to the mountains for the winter with Kennedy and when you go up to the mountains and it's quiet and snowy and you're sitting there, you have to really live with your emotions and that was what I needed to do."
As for Kennedy's relationship with Taylor's new beau?
The blond beauty admits they have a "cool relationship" and "it's fun for her" little girl. Sadly, she also reveals her daughter rarely asks about Russell, as the twosome were not close before his untimely death.
"You know she doesn't," Taylor admits when asked if Kennedy asks questions about her late father. "I hate to say that but, um, she didn't really have a close relationship with him."
Luckily, Kennedy has a new father figure in her life, and Taylor is thrilled, admitting she's "happier than ever" now that she's found love again.
"We looked up at one another and all of a sudden it was like he looked completely different to me and apparently I looked different to him as well," she says of her lawyer turned boyfriend, before adding he and Kennedy "have a blast together" with a big smile.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For more from Taylor Armstrong—including news on the latest RHOBH shake-up—tune in to E! News Monday at 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.