Heavy/NBCUniversal Andy Cohen
“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alumna Lisa Rinna ended her final season in a big way when she confronted “friend of” and main cast member Kyle Richards’ sister Kathy Hilton about Hilton’s behavior and alleged off-camera meltdown while on a cast trip to Aspen. Their fight lasted from the Aspen trip through the reunion, where Hilton called Rinna “the biggest bully in Hollywood”.
In a May 17 appearance on the “Las Culturistas” podcast to promote his new book “The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up”, Andy Cohen revealed that he tried to warn Rinna about going against Hilton on the show, telling her to think about the fan perception and reaction before doing anything.
Andy Cohen Told Lisa Rinna to ‘Think About the Optics’
The discussion began with host Matt Rogers asking Cohen his opinion about the relationship between Rinna and her “Beverly Hills” co-star Garcelle Beauvais. Cohen mentioned that the pair both spoke together at his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star ceremony.
“Three days before I got my star in Hollywood, they returned from Aspen where the Kathy Hilton thing happened,” Cohen said, “And all of a sudden it’s all on TMZ what happened. There’s all these allegations, and we’re like ‘Who’s leaking it?’ and Rinna is calling me saying, ‘I gotta bring this up on the show! It didn’t happen on camera but I have to bring it up.’ And I was like, ‘Look, you do what you gotta do. Say your piece. Just think about the optics. Think about if this is gonna land for you, but do whatever you want to do.'”
Cohen said this was only one of his worries, as Rinna and Beauvais were not in the best place at that time either, and they were due to speak together at his Walk of Fame induction ceremony.
Host Bowen Yang then asked Cohen, “When someone [like Rinna] comes to you like that, like ‘I am intent on doing this thing and you have to let me do it,’ or whatever […] What do you think is the missing thread for them?” to which Cohen responded that in this case Rinna “felt very strongly about it, she was very upset, and I said ‘Do what you want to’ but I remember saying to her ‘Look, the perception is that you’re going after everybody and so I just don’t know how this is going to land, but do you.'”
Cohen later in the episode spoke about the aftermath of the tense “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” season 12 reunion, which ended with Kyle Richards in tears after a fight between her sister (Hilton) and best friend (Rinna). Cohen referenced one story that he wrote about in his book, saying, “The night of the reunion [Rinna] texted us all and quit. She texted all the producers and quit the show. She did quit, whether she still wanted to quit later, I don’t know, I never discussed it with her again. Also she saw that day, ‘Wow this is really heavy’.”
Lisa Rinna Talks Who Will Replace Her as RHOBH’s ‘Villain’
Rinna was a polarizing figure during her tenure on the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”, often being called the villain, and even being boo’ed when she walked out for an RHOBH panel at BravoCon 2022.
Rinna sat down for her first interview since leaving the show in January 2023 with Interview Magazine, and one thing she discussed was who had the potential to replace her as the villain on the 13th season of RHOBH, which is reportedly wrapping up filming, and Rinna weighed a couple of options.
“If you’re so liked, you’re not going to want to do the work. So who’s going to do the work over there? That’s my question. Who’s doing the work? Who’s going to say, ‘I heard you said this about me.’ Who’s going to do that? You tell me. Who’s going to do that over there?” Rinna posited, with interviewer Mel Ottenberg suggesting Richards would not take on that role, but adding,”Although Kyle would crush if, in her 13th season, she was down to become the villain. I would gag for that. That would be f***ing cool.”
“I would gag for it on so many levels. She’s sharp and she’s fast,” Rinna answered.
Later in the interview, Ottenberg also said, “Our hope is that Garcelle and Sutton become truly iconic by being comfortable with being villainous,” to which Rinna replied, “Well, they just need to be who they really are. They are that, but they just have to let go of this facade they created.”
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