Getty Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin.
Harry Hamlin turned 70-years-old on October 30, 2021, and Bravo’s cameras were on hand to capture his birthday bash.
As seen on the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” season 12 episode, “Receipt Offender,” Lisa Rinna hosted a 70th birthday party for her actor husband that featured a guest list of only Housewives. The party was held at the Andaz Hotel in Los Angeles during filming for the Bravo reality show last fall—and just a few days after RHOBH co-star Dorit Kemsley was robbed at gunpoint in her home. Rinna offered to cancel Hamlin’s birthday party, but the Kemsleys wouldn’t have it.
According to a recap posted by the Dipp, the party set-up for Hamlin’s big birthday “occurred a stone’s throw away from the couch area of the hotel lobby.” “It was classless. It was embarrassing. It was phony,” the outlet noted. “This man is turning 70 and he’s gonna have his birthday in a public space of a hotel…”
The dinner menu was pasta, a nod to Hamlin’s famous homemade Bolognese sauce.
And as with any RHOBH event, drama ensued as Sutton Stracke and Rinna’s beef over Elton John’s Oscars party fundraiser was resurrected, and Erika Jayne hurled a “go f*** yourself” to Stracke at the dinner table. Newcomer Diana Jenkins — and her lengthy backstory — was also introduced on the night that was supposed to be “all about Harry.”
RHOBH Fans Reacted to Harry Hamlin’s Hotel Lobby Party
It’s no surprise that RHOBH fans had a few things to say about the party for Hamlin’s milestone birthday. In a Reddit thread, fans questioned the all-Housewives guest list, with one writing, “So y’all mean to tell me Harry has no other friends and family at his 70TH BIRTHDAY PARTY?! Not even kids were there… I hate how they set up these dumb story lines!!”
“Ugh whenever a new HW is introduced it’s always so fake and produced,” another noted of Jenkins’ presence at the party.
“Yes this always bugs me too when they have such obviously staged occasions,” another viewer wrote.
“I don’t mind accepting the forced events … but even I felt insulted by the lack of effort to make this even mildly plausible,” another wrote. “This season seems like a fever dream so far.”
“Lisa with a straight face: ‘tonight is all about Harry.’ Uh no, having dinner In a hotel lobby with your wife’s co workers is no one’s idea of a good time,” another chimed in.
Others also took issue with the pasta menu.
“Then they proceed to put the guys together at a table to awkwardly talk so the women can also sit together and awkwardly talk,” added another commenter. “It was so staged. They served PASTA to women who don’t eat carbs to push the bolognese storyline yet again. “
“Can we just quickly touch on their cheap a**es serving people pasta for dinner,” another Redditor asked.
“I’d be so pissed if I put on a boujee a** outfit to go eat a bowl of spaghetti. I would have rather gone to the Dorit room at Buca di Beppo,” another wrote.
“Literally like what was that? All for some damn spaghetti dish you can make at home yourself,” added another.
Other RHOBH viewers defended the small party, which was filmed when COVID restrictions were still in place in California.
“It was filmed during a pandemic. They aren’t going to host a big party and risk shutting down production again,” one commenter noted.
“I’m sure his real friends wouldn’t want to b on camera anyway,” another wrote of Hamlin. “And it’s not like a normal dinner. They were prob there for hrs due to filming. Also weren’t there still covid restrictions. I think they all prob still had to be tested.”
Harry Hamlin Had a Celeb-Filled Birthday Bash When He Turned 66
While Hamlin’s 70th birthday party was a low-key Housewives affair, his wife pulled out all the stops four years earlier. For Hamlin’s 66th birthday in 2017, Rinna threw him a surprise party with a celebrity guest list that included Lisa Vanderpump, Jeff Lewis, Colton Hayes, and Lori Loughlin.
A lavish custom cake created for the event featured an image of Hamlin’s 1987 “Sexiest Man Alive” People magazine cover across the top, according to BravoTV.com.
Rinna shared photos from the party to Instagram and captioned it with, “Surprising Harry for his birthday was so much fun!! “