Lisa Rinna built her name the slow way: one soap storyline, one talk show, one reality season at a time, over more than three decades. By the time The Traitors Season 4 cast her as an Original Traitor, that reputation was already a weapon the show could turn against her.
Born July 11, 1963, and raised in Medford, Oregon, Rinna is best known now for eight seasons on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, a memoir released in February 2026 that’s already making headlines, and a Traitors run that ended with her tricking a castmate into touching her own amulet.
Long before any of that, she was a model in Los Angeles trying to break into acting.
From Medford, Oregon, to Modeling in Los Angeles
Rinna grew up in Medford, Oregon, and moved to Los Angeles in her early twenties to pursue modeling. She worked as a model before shifting toward acting, picking up early guest spots on The Hogan Family and Baywatch. Neither role made her famous. The break that did came from daytime television.
Billie Reed and the Daytime Emmy Years
Rinna played Billie Reed on NBC’s Days of Our Lives from 1992 to 1995, a role that won her back-to-back Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1994 and 1995. From there she moved into primetime, playing the scheming Taylor McBride on Fox’s Melrose Place from 1996 to 1998 alongside Heather Locklear, a jump from daytime to primetime that few soap actors managed to pull off cleanly.
Soap Talk, Dancing with the Stars, and a Reality Warm-Up
Between 2002 and 2006, Rinna hosted Soapnet’s Soap Talk, earning four Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Talk Show Host. She competed on Season 2 of Dancing with the Stars in 2006 with professional partner Louis van Amstel, eliminated in week seven despite scoring higher with the judges than fellow contestant Jerry Rice that same week. In 2011, she joined Season 4 of The Celebrity Apprentice and was eliminated after serving as project manager on a children’s-book writing task; she returned years later for the show’s All-Stars season.
| Years | Show | Role/Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1992-1995 | Days of Our Lives | Billie Reed; back-to-back Soap Opera Digest Awards (1994, 1995) |
| 1996-1998 | Melrose Place | Taylor McBride |
| 2002-2006 | Soap Talk (Soapnet) | Host; 4 Daytime Emmy nominations |
| 2006 | Dancing with the Stars (Season 2) | Eliminated week 7 |
| 2011 | The Celebrity Apprentice (Season 4 + All-Stars) | Eliminated on children’s-book task; returned for All-Stars |
| 2014-2023 | Real Housewives of Beverly Hills | 8 seasons, main cast |
| 2026 | The Traitors (Season 4) | Original Traitor; banished Episode 7 |
Eight Seasons on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Rinna joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a main cast member in 2014 and stayed for eight seasons, becoming one of the show’s most consistently visible personalities. She announced her exit on January 5, 2023, citing death threats and what she described as increasingly volatile online harassment aimed at her and her family. In her 2026 memoir, she went further, writing that she’d had “a rough year” filming what became her final season, one that overlapped with the 2021 death of her mother, Lois Rinna, during production. She also revealed Bravo had fined her over what the network called “unleashing impulsive opinions on Instagram,” a detail that made headlines on its own when the book came out.
Harry Hamlin, Delilah, and Amelia
Rinna has been married to actor Harry Hamlin since 1997. The couple has two daughters: Delilah Belle Hamlin, born in June 1998, and Amelia Gray Hamlin, born in June 2001, both of whom have built their own careers in modeling and entertainment. In 2024, Rinna signed with modeling agency The Lions, a move that put her name in a career conversation entirely separate from reality television at age 61.
An Original Traitor Under Suspicion From Day One
Rinna entered The Traitors Season 4 as an Original Traitor, and her Housewife reputation for high drama became a target almost immediately. Castmate Colton Underwood led early suspicion against her, treating her reality-TV pedigree as reason enough to watch her closely. Her most memorable move in the game came when she tricked castmate Yam Yam Arocho into touching her own amulet, letting her carry out a murder without detection. She was banished in Episode 7, the second Traitor eliminated after Donna Kelce. In exit interviews, Rinna said flatly that she “didn’t care” by that point in the game and “wanted to go home,” and Underwood later said she hadn’t fought to stay the way he’d expected from someone with her reputation for confrontation.
The Memoir and Life Now
Rinna’s memoir, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It, came out February 24, 2026, through Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. The title borrows a line from one of her own RHOBH confessionals. Between the book’s rollout, a modeling deal in her sixties, and a Traitors season that turned her own reputation into a strategic weapon against her, Rinna’s career keeps finding new ways to put her in front of a different audience, whether or not she’s holding the amulet. More on how the rest of Season 4 played out is covered in OpenThreadNews’ full Traitors Season 4 cast guide.
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.
