Lisa Rinna had a long run on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” but it could have been even longer. The former RHOBH cast member revealed in a recent interview that she auditioned for the first season of the Bravo reality show in 2010, but that Andy Cohen stopped her from being hired.
“I was up for Housewives season one,” Rinna, 62, revealed on the “Skinny Confidential Him & Her Show.” “I went in for casting. I got pretty far. And Andy said, ‘I don’t want any actresses on the show.’ So he wouldn’t — [he] didn’t hire me.”
“Season five, when I came in, he decided to let actresses come, and they hired me and Eileen Davidson,” the former “Days of Our Lives” star continued. “So it did change the game because we came in as soap actors, like together.”
Rinna added that she “only” had fun with Davidson, who appeared on three seasons of the show. “Because it was not fun. None of it is fun,” she added.
Rinna was a cast member on RHOBH from Season 5 through Season 12. She announced her exit from the show in January 2023. Cohen, who serves as an executive producer on Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise, said Rinna had “an iconic run” on RHOBH, according to People magazine.
Andy Cohen Admitted He Originally Didn’t Want Lisa Rinna on RHOBH
BravoEven though the first seasons of RHOBH featured sibling actresses Kim and Kyle Richards, Cohen admitted he was against the idea of having actresses on the cast.
“I actually have mixed feelings about having stars on the show,” Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter in a May 2024 interview. “When Lisa Rinna was trying out for Season 1 of ‘Beverly Hills,’ I was very much against the idea. Like, she’s already a celebrity! But then she came, and it made perfect sense.”
After Rinna announced her departure from RHOBH, Cohen addressed the news on his SiriusXM show, “Andy Cohen Live.”
“First, you’ve gotta give props to Lisa Rinna for being, by the way, eight years,” said Cohen. “I mean, she’s a working actor. She’s been an actor. Usually, you don’t get a part on a show that goes for eight years. So this is a reality show, and that is a testament to how compelling Lisa Rinna is to watch on television that she went eight years.”
‘[She] has been really a huge part of ‘Beverly Hills,'” he added. “I really do hope that this is a pause. I hope she will come back. I really do . …I just hope that Lisa will humor us and comes back. …I do hope that this is a pause, because I always enjoyed Lisa Rinna on my TV.”
Lisa Rinna Said She Will Never Return to RHOBH
Despite being behind some of RHOBH’s messiest scenes, Rinna has been very adamant that her days as a Bravo star are done.
In a 2024 interview on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Rinna said she would “never” return to the “Real Housewives” after leaving on her own terms.
“No. Never. No, I wouldn’t,” she told Hudson. “I am grateful for that show. I am the person I am today because of it, but I’ll never go back.”
Lisa: the show hasn’t been the same without you. So many of us miss you. But, “Bravo!” (pun intended) for having a solid decision to absolutely know what’s best for you, and to not let “others” with enormous bank accounts, have a say in your life…….Thanks for being unbothered, bursting with personality and beautiful to look at!