Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin’s Secret Sauce Are Leaving ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’

After eight seasons and twice as many wigs, Lisa Rinna’s time on Bravo has come to an end. On Thursday, Rinna announced that she would be leaving the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  

“This is the longest job I have held in my 35-year career and I am grateful to everyone at Bravo and all those involved in the series,” said Rinna in a statement to People. “It has been a fun eight-year run and I am excited for what is to come!” According to People, it was a mutual decision for Rinna to leave the series when her contract expired after season 12, which wrapped in October of last year.

Rinna joined the Bravo series as a full-time cast member in 2014 for its fifth season. Even before joining the Housewives franchise, Rinna was a familiar face in Hollywood, originating the role of Billie Reed on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, starring as Taylor McBride on Melrose Place, and hosting the show Soap Talk, for which she received four Daytime Emmy nominations. On The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Rinna came in guns blazing and was a polarizing figure, engaging in fights and feuds with former cast members like Kim Richards, Lisa Vanderpump, and Denise Richards, and aligning herself with Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley, Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave, and Erika Jayne, forming a group known to fans as “the Fox Force Five.” The series also served as a platform for Rinna to promote her various business ventures, like Rinna Beauty; showcase her life with her husband, actor Harry Hamlin and promote his “secret sauce”; and launch the modeling careers of her daughters, Delilah and Amelia Hamlin.

Rinna’s polarizing nature and insistence that people “own it,” however, soured over time. She ended season 12 as the persona non grata of the series, after accusing Kathy Hilton of engaging in some horrendous behavior while on a cast trip to Aspen, and causing a rift between Hilton and her sister Kyle. During the RHOBH season 12 reunion, Hilton called Rinna “the biggest bully in Hollywood” and subsequently said that she wouldn’t return to the series if Rinna and Jayne remained on the cast. After the season closed, Rinna was booed when she entered for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills panel at BravoCon this past fall, and was notably absent backstage at Andy’s Legends Ball.

At least one of Rinna’s former castmates seemed happy to hear her time has come to an end. After Rinna’s exit from the series was announced, Vanderpump, who left the series in 2019, shadily tweeted, “Ding dong.”