'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills': 'Life goes on'

After a last minute edit to include reference to the death of a cast member, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" debuted Monday (Sept. 5) evening with a discussion about the suicide of Russell Armstrong.

Armstrong hanged himself in late August -- he and "RHOBH" regular Taylor Armstrong had been going through a contentious divorce and he reportedly was struggling with some financial difficulties.

In the taped discussion, the housewives reflected on Armstrong and pondered whether or not they'd missed signs of his unhappiness and instability.

"Financial status is so important [in Beverly Hills]," said Kyle Richards, "you need to keep this front of what you have ... when it all went down the tubes [for Russell] it was too much pressure."

But, she added before the program moved on to the usual format, "As difficult as that is, life goes on -- it has to."

Bravo will reportedly be tweaking the rest of the season's episodes to take the suicide into account.

In a Tuesday (Sept. 6) morning interview with "Today's" Ann Curry, Richards said she'd watched the premiere with Kyle Richards and Richards "approved" of the way the suicide was handled by the network: