“I just wanted to be a star,” Rinna told L.A. Time. “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.”
After hosting Soap Talk and appearing on reality shows such as Celebrity Apprentice and Dancing with the Stars, as well as her own reality series with her husband Harry Hamlin on TV Land called Harry Loves Lisa. Rinna admits it was hard for her to get acting gigs, that's when the opportunity for her to join RHOBH came knocking her door.
“I couldn’t really get an acting job anymore because I had now become a reality star,” Rinna say. “And I was like, ... now what do I do? By the time ‘Housewives’ came along, I wasn’t afraid of it. I knew it was a direction I had to continue to go on.”
She was just starting her QVC fashion line and felt the “Housewives” platform would help propel that business. “I was looking at it from a business angle,” she says. “I saw what it did for Nene Leakes, [Lisa] Vanderpump, Kyle [Richards], Bethenny [Frankel].”
While her husband Harry was at first hesitant of her joining RHOBH, Andy Cohen, who is the executive producer of the franchise felt wary of hiring a recognizable actress, feeling it would change the vibe of the show.
They both eventually came around to the idea of Rinna being part of the Bravo hit reality series. “She’s fun to watch,” Cohen says. “She’s funny and she makes fun of herself. She understands her place in the world, and she’s very secure with herself. I just think she’s entertaining.”
“It’s been great,” Rinna says, “I’ve been able to get deals through my social media platforms and get extra income in that area. I don’t even know where to begin. All kinds of things are constantly coming.”
“I’ve never been more famous than I am at this point, because of the show,” she says about being on RHOBH.
So how does Rinna feels when she watches herself on the Bravo hit reality series? “I see her as a character because it’s not all of who I am,” Rinna explains. “I’m watching Lisa on the ‘Real Housewives’ — or Rinna, as I like to call her. She’s funny. I get a kick out of her actually. When I watch her, I’m like, ‘God, she’s the comic relief.’ ”
But being the show, the fandom at times can get a bit intense on social media. “It’s gotten to a crazy level. … I mean, I’ve had death threats.”
Rinna also admits that she was close of walking away from the show after the Munchausen drama with former co-star Yolanda Hadid.
Now, the show is heading into it's tenth season, will Rinna return? “My contract is up, I can tell you that,” Rinna told L.A. Time. “So whether we re-up it I guess is up to the Bravo gods. I would like to go back.”
Photo Credit: Bravo
