Rinna says she’s been close to leaving the show. It prompts her to comment about the intensity of the show’s fandom at times: “It’s gotten to a crazy level. Our conversation comes a couple of weeks before Rinna will tape this season’s reunion - the first installment airs July 16- and she’s aware of some of the criticism surrounding the season’s focus on the Puppygate scandal - a dispute over a problematic puppy that led to an endless series of recriminations and gossip and ultimately resulted in the departure of longtime favorite Lisa Vanderpump from the series (“Our show tends to be like a dog with a bone. This season, she prompted a dinner debate over Brett Kavanaugh at the time the Senate hearings about his Supreme Court confirmation were underway.īut how many more seasons does she have in her? And she’s had a hand in some of the show’s most memorable moments. Since then, she’s endeared herself to viewers with her self-deprecating attitude - poking fun at herself, including her enhanced lips and the haircut she’s sported for decades. Rinna joined the cast in the show’s fifth season in 2014, making her introduction at Kyle Richards’ famous white party before leaving to attend a “Mad Men” bash (Hamlin was on the series at the time). When I watch her, I’m like, ‘God, she’s the comic relief.’ ” “I’m watching Lisa on the ‘Real Housewives’ - or Rinna, as I like to call her. “I see her as a character because it’s not all of who I am,” Rinna says.

It gets us talking about whether an actor on a reality series can ever really suppress the inclination to perform - and if she views the Lisa Rinna viewers have come to know on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” as a character.

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