Lisa Rinna spent eight seasons on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills turning herself into the show’s lightning rod. When she finally played The Traitors, she brought the same performance, and it got her banished in Episode 7.
Her biggest move was also the one that exposed her: a murder in plain sight at the Black Banquet, wearing a cursed amulet, in front of everyone. She called herself the most iconic legendary traitor on her way out, and she has kept reinventing herself since, from a memoir that named its price to a fall 2026 fashion run.
Medford to the Modeling Room
Lisa Rinna was born July 11, 1963, and raised in Medford, Oregon. She moved to Los Angeles in her early twenties to pursue modeling, then shifted toward acting.
Early guest spots included The Hogan Family (Annie Derrick, 4 episodes) and Baywatch (Kelly, in the episode “Thin or Die”), plus early films Captive Rage (1988) and Monday Morning (1990) and the TV movie Lies Before Kisses (1991). Neither early role made her famous.
The break that did came from daytime television.
Billie Reed, Four Times
Rinna originated Billie Reed on Days of Our Lives, debuting September 18, 1992, and leaving September 28, 1995, to star as Taylor McBride on Melrose Place.
She won back-to-back Soap Opera Digest Awards: 1994 Female Newcomer and 1995 Hottest Soap Couple (Bo and Billie, shared with Robert Kelker-Kelly).
Billie’s story built on a dark foundation: she arrived in Salem dreaming of becoming a professional singer, but a cocaine addiction almost returned her to a life of prostitution. Her father Curtis Reed got her addicted and raped her.
After Curtis was murdered in 1993, Billie was the prime suspect, and Bo Brady fell in love with her while proving her innocence. Stefano DiMera had killed Curtis in self-defense and framed Billie. She and Austin then learned Kate Roberts was their mother, who had been led to believe her children died in a car crash with Curtis.
Billie later started cosmetics company Countess Wilhelmina, which Kate bought out to spite her.
Rinna returned to Days three more times: 2002-2003 (left unhappy with storyline), 2012-2013 (written out after less than a year), and February 13-22, 2018. In 2021 she reprised Billie in the Peacock spinoff Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem (five episodes, including an encounter with doppelganger drag queen Jackie Cox). Total: 606 episodes.
The later Billie was a different character: more of a professional ISA agent, a James Bond type, lacking the gritty vulnerability of the girl surviving her father.
The Talk-Show Circuit
Rinna co-hosted Soapnet’s Soap Talk with Ty Treadway from 2002 to 2006 (104 episodes). The show was Daytime Emmy-nominated.
She competed on Dancing with the Stars Season 2 in 2006 with Louis van Amstel, eliminated in week seven despite scoring higher with the judges than fellow contestant Jerry Rice that same week.
She joined Celebrity Apprentice Season 4 in 2011 and was eliminated after serving as project manager on a children’s-book writing task. She returned years later for the All-Stars season.
She and husband Harry Hamlin were the focus of the TV Land reality series Harry Loves Lisa. She penned three books before the memoir, including New York Times bestseller Rinnavation, plus fashion and cosmetics lines. She guest co-hosted Live! With Kelly and sold a clothing line on QVC.
Beverly Hills’ Lightning Rod
Rinna joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a main cast member in 2014 and stayed for eight seasons. She announced her exit on January 5, 2023: “This is the longest job I have held in my 35-year career and I am grateful to everyone at Bravo and all those involved in the series. It has been a fun eight-year run and I am excited for what is to come!”
Her parting was described as a mutual agreement after she weighed options and business obligations. She cited death threats and increasingly volatile online harassment aimed at her and her family.
In a since-deleted July 2021 Instagram post, she wrote that grief following the death of her mother Lois led to many of her controversial posts: “I’m sorry if I’ve raged on you, about you… it really has nothing to do with any of you.”
Her RHOBH run included widely covered flashpoints: the Amsterdam dinner where she smashed a wine glass at Kim Richards, introducing Munchausen syndrome to question Yolanda Hadid’s Lyme disease claims, bunny gate at a reunion, and fueling Dorit drug rumors.
She later regretted the Munchausen move as Lisa Vanderpump’s puppet, per podcast coverage. Her memoir later called her final season a “rough year” that overlapped with mother Lois’s death in 2021 during production.
The Memoir That Named a Price
Her fourth book and first memoir, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It (Dey Street Books, HarperCollins imprint), was published February 24, 2026, her return to writing after 2012’s The Big, Fun, Sexy Sex Book. The title comes from one of her most iconic RHOBH confessionals.
She told PEOPLE: “I don’t know if everyone is ready for all of the truth I am unloading in this book. But I was certainly ready to tell it… Life comes with a lot of ups and downs, and so much of it gets lost ‘in the editing,’ if you will. It was time to share the director’s cut… This mouth has gotten me in so much trouble.” She did not initially want to write it; her team pushed for it.
She writes about her Oregon childhood, parenting daughters Amelia (24) and Delilah (27, as of February 2026) with Harry Hamlin, acting and modeling careers, and reality TV.
Two revelations made headlines on their own: Bravo fined her $50,000 over what the network called “unleashing impulsive opinions on Instagram,” and she gave herself “an A minus for her fashion choices on the show” while writing of Sutton Stracke: “Let’s start with Sutton, who is living proof that money can’t buy you taste… I’m happy to drag Sutton. She’s frumpy, there’s no sex appeal about her whatsoever, and she’s got a weird body. So god bless her.”
She also wrote she would never forget watching Sutton do a Dolce and Gabbana fitting: “She came out, and I had to pretend that her outfit was cute. That was some of the best acting I’ve ever done.”
In a February 2026 USA Today interview, she said “Housewives” had turned “vanilla.” Us Weekly quoted her: “I’m very busy right now… I’m looking for an embarrassment of riches… I’ve been very fortunate, and I don’t give up… I’m not afraid to reinvent myself. I’m not afraid of ageism, I’m not afraid of sexism. I’m not afraid of any of it. I just keep going.” She has also become a TikTok presence.
The Amulet Murder
Lisa Rinna entered The Traitors Season 4 (premiered January 8, 2026) as an Original Traitor alongside Candiace Dillard Bassett and Rob Rausch, with Donna Kelce as hidden fourth (Secret Traitor). Her Housewife reputation for high drama became a weapon the show turned against her.
On the first night she voted to banish Porsha Williams, breaking the “housewives don’t vote housewives” rule. She navigated the Dagger Six alliance drama and picked off big Survivor and Big Brother winners early.
Colton Underwood correctly suspected her and declared to camera he would hold her “hostage,” revealing his suspicions to her and promising to protect her from banishment if she did not murder him. She turned him down, and he ultimately helped banish her.
She told PEOPLE she volunteered for the banquet murder for more camera time: “I knew I was putting myself in the hot seat [during the banquet murder in episode 7]. You don’t really want to do that because if you f— up or if something happens, you’re going to go. But I had the most fabulous outfit that I knew, I call it a pin, but we’re going to call it an amulet because that’s what they say it is, and I was just like, I’m going to do it because guess what? I get all the camera time.”
In Episode 7, “The Black Banquet” (January 29, 2026), she wore the cursed amulet. Yam Yam Arocho touched it while helping her fix her ruby brooch, and was murdered in plain sight.
When Alan announced the poisoning, hooded guards dragged Yam Yam from the room, a first for the show, as he yelled: “Lisa! It was Lisa who kissed me.” Natalie Anderson and Kristen Kish rushed to take the two available antidotes despite Tara Lipinski feeling in danger.
Lisa and Candiace then worked to frame Natalie after she accidentally said “we murdered” another player. At the Round Table, Rob Rausch led the logical argument against her and Colton spearheaded the charge. She was banished as the second Traitor eliminated after Donna Kelce, declaring: “I am the most iconic legendary traitor.”
In the same episode, Rob Rausch received the first dagger advantage (an extra Round Table vote) for scoring the most gold in the mission and correctly guessing Natalie Anderson was lying about having it.
After banishment she broke down in tears over her RHOBH exit: “The end of ‘Housewives’ was very difficult for me. It was just so nice to be me. I am just so grateful for the entire experience. Thank you.”
The Stalker Comment
After filming, Rinna stirred up drama with Underwood by calling him “a stalker” in a post on Threads on January 23, writing: “Let’s talk about you being a stalker…”
The post seemed to refer to the restraining order filed against Underwood in 2020 by his ex Cassie Randolph (who won his Bachelor season before he came out as gay), who claimed he harassed her, sent “unsettling” text messages, and planted a tracking device on her car.
Randolph was granted a temporary restraining order but later requested it be dismissed, and the pair reached a private agreement. She dropped the order with prejudice in November 2020.
The resurfacing led to a wave of backlash and death threats directed at Underwood. Rinna took to Instagram Stories asking fans to “be gentle,” saying her comment was made in “‘Housewife’ mode” and part of the game: “I am here to play the game, to have fun, and Colton is a great nemesis for me. We had so much fun… please guys, be gentle. It’s a game. It’s a TV show. We’re all doing the best we can. Don’t send death threats or do anything to jeopardize somebody’s family.”
She added: “It’s come to my attention that my post that I responded to in my ‘housewife mode’ is taking on a life of its own and it’s causing real problems for Colton… Colton and I are great.” Peacock issued a statement via X condemning the harassment and cyberbullying.
Speaking to EW after her exit aired (before the reunion was filmed), Rinna revealed she did not know about Underwood’s past during filming: “I knew nothing about his past”… “I didn’t want to be part of… even though, listen, if you ask me to be a Housewife, I’m going to come at you however I’m going to come at you. And guess what? He got what he asked for because I definitely showed up as Lisa Rinna, the Housewife… His past is his past. It doesn’t have anything to do with me.” She added she is “fine” with Underwood now because “at the end of the day, it’s a game.”
At the reunion (covered February 14, 2026), she confronted him over his “hostage” comment. A rumor that Underwood stormed out of the reunion was denied: a Variety source said he “did not storm out” or spin out at any point, Page Six reported he left during a planned break and returned after getting air and water, and Dorinda Medley said she did not “remember” any walk-off.
Still Lisa Rinna
Rinna has been married to actor Harry Hamlin since March 29, 1997. Daughters Delilah Belle Hamlin (born June 10, 1998) and Amelia Gray Hamlin (born June 13, 2001) both have modeling and entertainment careers.
Her summer 2026 activity is documented on her own Instagram: a July 1, 2026 carousel recapping a busy month spanning Cannes, Las Culturistas, a Rome Spanish Steps visit, and the Equality PAC Pride Gala, where she and Harry Hamlin were honored on stage as Actors and Activists. Fans praised the memoir (“Just finished your book. 1000/10!!”) and her looks at her age.
In October 2026 she attended the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in a feathered look (sheer netting, swirling black fringe, red feathered sleeves, glossy black skirt) as daughter Amelia Gray walked the runway, and appeared at the WWD Style Awards 2026.
On Facebook, a pre-Met Gala outfit post drew divided reactions (“Hideous dress” vs “this hairstyle is absolute fire”). Her ventures beyond acting include fashion and cosmetics lines.
She continues to parent adult daughters Delilah (27) and Amelia (24, as of February 2026) and to reinvent: “I’m not afraid of ageism, I’m not afraid of sexism. I’m not afraid of any of it. I just keep going.”
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Lisa Rinna?
Rinna was born July 11, 1963, in Medford, Oregon, making her 63 as of 2026.
When did Lisa Rinna leave Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?
She announced her exit on January 5, 2023, after eight seasons, citing death threats and online harassment directed at her and her family.
Who is Lisa Rinna married to?
She has been married to actor Harry Hamlin since 1997. They have two daughters, Delilah Belle Hamlin and Amelia Gray Hamlin.
Did Lisa Rinna win The Traitors?
No. She played as an Original Traitor in Season 4 and was banished in Episode 7, the second Traitor eliminated after Donna Kelce.
