Lisa Rinna recently joined The Evening Standard and looked back on her 26 years of marriage with Harry Hamlin. In the interview, she revealed Harry’s initial reaction to her joining The Real Housewives cast. According to the actress, her husband said he would divorce her if she did so.
As Lisa recalls, she persuaded him by introducing this as a business opportunity, as Bethenny Frankel, who starred in the TV series for eight seasons, sold her cocktail brand Skinnygirl Cocktails for $120 million in 2011. Lisa said:
“He said he would divorce me, were his exact words. I said to him: ‘Okay, I totally respect that, but take a look at Bethenny Frankel and what she’s done with her Skinnygirl brand.’ Harry came back to me and said: Oh, well, I think maybe this could be an interesting idea for you.'”
Rinna joined the main cast of The Real Housewives in 2014. In an 2019 interview with LA Times, she said she wanted to be a star, while his husband was more interested in being a talented actor:
“I just wanted to be a star. Harry’s much more like, ‘I’m an actor. It’s about the craft.’ I didn’t care whether I was a great actor. I just wanted to be famous and was going to do whatever I had to to get there.”
In the same interview, Lisa admitted she fulfilled her wish to be famous with The Real Housewives:
“I’ve never been more famous than I am at this point because of the show.“
In 2020, Rinna announced her cosmetics brand Rinna Beauty, and two years later, her beverage company Rinna Wines. On January 6, 2023, she announced her departure from The Real Housewives.