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Lisa Rinna has opened up about Kathy Hilton‘s dramatic outburst in Aspen within the pages of her newest book, You Better Believe I’m Going To Talk About It.
In her candid recount, Rinna not only criticizes Andy Cohen, 57, labeling him as “so shady” for revealing her text messages in his book, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up, but she also confesses to burning his work in her fireplace and accuses him of failing to support her. The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, now 62, also reflects on what she describes as “sketchy” production tactics, suggesting the network shielded Kathy, 66, by offering her preferential treatment.
“Here’s the true story: I observed Kathy’s unacceptable behavior throughout that season’s filming, especially during our Aspen trip, and I believe the Hiltons tried to keep it under wraps. That was their goal all along. They spent years covering it up, and suddenly, I exposed it on national TV,” Lisa explained. “I refused to cover for her. I decided to call her out, and that’s exactly what I did.”
Lisa recounts that on the particular night in question, Kathy returned to the residence from the club and “had an absolute meltdown in the dark,” during which she allegedly threatened to “destroy” her sister, Kyle Richards, 57.
“There were no lights on. She flipped out, was pounding on the walls, screaming and yelling, and absolutely losing her f*cking sh*t, and it scared me,” Lisa revealed. “I had never ever had anybody behave like that in front of me in my entire life, and it freaked me the f*ck out. [So] I spoke of it, and I was villainized for that.”
Although Lisa didn’t understand why she became the bad guy at first, she now realizes that she fell victim to “the Hilton-Richards machine.”
“[It] has really done a lot of work to keep that undercover; they were not about to let Lisa Rinna f*ck that up. Bravo went along with it, and so did Andy Cohen,” she noted. “I went down for it and took the fall because they’d spent too many years and too much money protecting their name.”
Reflecting on the season 12 reunion, Lisa knew she had reached the end of her run on the show when she saw Kathy’s publicist, Andy Gelb.
“He’s big-time. Bravo must have allowed it because, normally, we were not allowed to have anyone there with us. She had her weighted security blanket, and I had nobody,” Lisa shared. “They were coming for me. So my hackles went up, my claws came out, and I began preparing for war.”
Following the taping of the reunion, Lisa sent a message to her producers and to Andy, informing them that she would not be returning to the show for season 13.
Months later, that message turned up in Andy’s memoir.
“Andy had given me a heads-up that I was in his new book. When anyone gives you a heads-up that you’re in their book, you know you’re f*cked. He’d never given me one before, and I’d been in his other books. Right, so he included my personal text messages,” she explained. “It was so shady, so Andy, so Bravo, so unnecessary.”
“After I read it, I was so mad, I threw his book in my fireplace and watched it burn gleefully,” she added.
Then speaking of the way in which production included her message in season 13, Lisa felt that it was their way of “[getting] back at [her].”
“It was so sketchy of them to post my private resignation letter. But that’s the game they play, and they play it with everybody,” she reasoned.
While Lisa mentioned that she “brought that show so much” and “gave [her] all,” she recalled no one having her back.
“Nobody fought for me. Nobody said, ‘Oh my God, please stay! Don’t go!’ I was pretty much left for dead by everyone who had been in my life for eight years … Nobody had my back, not even Andy. Especially Andy,” she stated.
Lisa Rinna was featured in a full-time role on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills from season five through season 12.