Fresh off her stint on “Traitors,” Lisa Rinna held court Tuesday with a backyard luncheon in her Beverly Hills home to celebrate the publication of her latest memoir, “You Better Believe I’m Going to Talk About It.”
Guests included friends like fellow “Housewives” Dorit Kemsley, Teddi Mellencamp and Erika Jayne. Monet X. Change, Maura Higgins, Carmen Electra, comedian Atsuko Okatsuk, and others who co-starred in “Traitors”. Her family, husband Harry Hamlin and daughter Delilah Bell, were also by Rinna’s side.
Rinna, who hosted a lunch with InStyle editor-in-chief Sally Holmes, lived up to her fashionista reputation by wearing a Richard Quinn dress and a latex top from Busted.
“I feel like part of my job is to show women that they can be so much more than the deadlines given to them as women,” Rinna, 62, told me. “It’s really a matter of mindset. If you don’t feel like you need to be older, don’t do it. Have fun!”
The soiree took place just days after Rinna filmed the “Traitor” reunion, where she reportedly got into an altercation with Colton Underwood, her nemesis on the show. Rinna said, “That’s ridiculous.” “This is a game. I never meant any harm… Hopefully we can all have a Kumbaya moment.”
Page Six’s report claims that Underwood stormed out of the reunion taping because of Rinna, but Rinna provided her own explanation of what happened. “I didn’t see it myself,” she said. “I saw him leave and I saw other people leaving too to go to the bathroom and stuff. But it took a long time for people to come back and I can share that with you.
“But just for the record, it’s not going to air, right?” Rinna continued. “I said, ‘Colton, I have a question for you. What do you mean when you say ‘hold her hostage’?’ That’s all I said, and he passed out.” (A source at the reunion taping said Underwood “didn’t explode or spin at any point.”)
Underwood came under fire for saying during his confessional on the show that he wanted to hold the traitor “hostage.” When Rinna did not accept his offer to protect each other for the rest of the season, he planned to expel her.
Meanwhile, Rinna called Underwood a “stalker” on social media. This was in reference to allegations that his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Randolph, made against Mr. Underwood after they met on “The Bachelor.”
Sadly, some fans took things too far, with Underwood telling Variety’s Emily Longeretta that he received death threats while appearing on Traitor. Rinna was quick to condemn the toxicity.
“That’s insane. It’s unnecessary,” she told me. “I think that’s ridiculous. I’m okay with Colton. I think Colton is okay with me.”
However, Rinna pointed out, “He unfollowed me on Instagram, so that’s the drama. It’s like, ‘Really? Someone unfollowed me like a boyfriend or a girlfriend?'”
Reached for comment, Underwood’s rep said, “Lisa has always been kind to Colton in private, which makes some of her public behavior even more confusing. It is inconsistent with their private communications and appears to be trying to invent a conflict that doesn’t exist. Colton is incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support he has received from the cast.”
Expect more tea to be spilled on February 25th when Rinna appears as a guest on “Happens Live with Andy Cohen” for the first time in four years. Rinna and Cohen are feuding over private text messages the Bravo host shared in her 2023 book, The Daddy Diaries: The Years I Grew Up.
She and Cohen had a chance to meet again when Cohen hosted a reunion for “The Traitors.”
“I sat next to him at the reunion and we chatted,” Rinna said. “He knows I threw my books in the fireplace and all that. It’s all there. Everything’s cool.”
