For eight seasons on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Lisa Rinna mastered the art of becoming unavoidable. She was loud, polarizing, always impeccably coiffed, and consistently one beat ahead of the rest. Love her or hate her, you were either watching or hearing about it anyway. And when she exited the franchise, she didn’t disappear—she recalibrated. Now, between her star turn on The Traitors and the impending release of her brutally honest memoir (You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It, out February 24), Lisa is entering a new era where she’s less edited, more in control, and fully aware that she’s about to piss everyone off again.
On RHOBH, Lisa was often flattened into a meme or a moment rather than a person. Eight seasons of confessionals, confrontations, and carefully constructed drama trained her to tell stories fast and loud—but not necessarily fully. The edit giveth and the edit taketh away! And Lisa has always known exactly where she got sliced. That unresolved tension—between who she is and how she’s been portrayed—sits at the core of her new book, which promises a version of our favorite actor-turned-reality-TV royal without Bravo’s agenda.
Then came The Traitors, a show that feels custom-built for someone who understands performance, perception, and psychological warfare as well as Lisa does. Draped in high fashion and heaps of suspicion, she entered the castle without spreadsheets or a master plan. Just a closet full of pre-planned outfits. The result was a master class in controlled chaos: part soap opera, part mind game, and 100 percent committed to the bit. If Housewives was treacherous in post-production, The Traitors was treacherous in real time (mentally and physically), forcing Lisa to confront how much of her power comes from instinct versus strategy.
Which brings us to the book. Timed miraculously well with the highly anticipated finale of The Traitors, the memoir reads like a reclaiming of this chapter of Lisa’s life. It is intimate where reality TV is evasive, specific where fame is usually vague, and especially unapologetic about revisiting old wounds, especially the ones that still sting today. Lisa doesn’t position herself as a victim or a hero. She positions herself as human, flawed, and finally uninterested in protecting anyone else’s narrative over her own.
At 62, Lisa isn’t softening. She’s sharpening. And whether you’re tuning in for the fashion, the fallout, or the full-throttle honesty, one thing is clear: Lisa Rinna is authoring this chapter of her life herself.
Did you purposefully time the release of your book the finale of The Traitors? The finale airs two days after your book hits shelves.
No! It just kind of unrolled naturally. I finished in May and it was originally supposed to come out in October 2025. And I booked The Traitors in between. Then my publisher came to me and explained that because of COVID, a bunch of celebrity memoirs had been pushed to September and they felt waiting until earlier this year might be better so we wouldn’t get lost in the sauce. And their suggestion to delay the release wound up being perfection.
When you sat down to write, were you excavating the past or settling scores?
All of the above, if I’m being honest.
Do be honest! Which one was more fun?
Settling scores. *laughs* I mean, it’s not really about settling scores. It’s about telling my side of the story more than anything. I’m too old to settle scores at this point. I felt like Housewives never showed me for who I really am. And I had a bone to pick with that. Publishing this book is my way of speaking my side without anybody editing me out. And listen, I don’t hold back in this book. I definitely don’t.
Reality TV trains you to tell stories fast and loud. How did you adjust to the slower, more private discipline of writing?
It’s really vulnerable. It’s hard for me to revisit some of that stuff. The first chapter of the book is about my mom, and that’s painful. But it became one of those things I just knew I had to do. I knew I had to be honest and open, which can be tough after so many years in this business. You want to protect yourself, you know?
Was there anything you surprised yourself by being honest about on the page?
Oh god, everything. I mean, talking about Housewives, talking about how I felt about certain people…
As I was reading, I found myself surprised with how granular you got about Andy!
Yeah… and he wants me to come film Watch What Happens Live. *laughs* But he doesn’t quite know what’s in this book yet. That’s scary! But I always knew if I was going to write another book, I had to be honest. And listen, it’s been two years in the making, and I’m in a different place now than I was when I was writing it.
You speak so much about your time on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills over the course of eight seasons. I’m ready for the tell-all about your time on The Traitors!
I feel like there’s a lot to say. We almost put a Traitors chapter in, but we just couldn’t get it in without rushing it.
You’ve built a career on being unapologetically visible. What does vulnerability look like for someone who has already shown so much?
I knew this book needed to feel intimate. I have to give the reader new information. Otherwise, why are you going to read my fucking book? You can just google me. It was really important for me to show all the aspects of myself.
Did you ever stop mid-draft and think, Oh, this is going to piss people off?
Every single chapter.
Any of the Housewives in particular?
It’s going to piss them all off.
What do you hope readers understand about Lisa Rinna, the writer, that they might miss about Lisa Rinna, the personality?
That I’m human. I’m a human being with feelings like everybody else. That I’m not some evil villain….
As one of those readers, I feel like you do a great job at owning your missteps and character flaws and not excusing away bad behavior.
Okay, good. *laughs* I think I owned up to my own stuff just as much as when I wrote about other people. I made sure to take responsibility for how I participated in certain moments. I was very careful to do that, because I don’t want this book to be a blame game. There is no blame, because I am not a victim. I play a part in every single thing that happens.
You wrote about your Cosmopolitan cover story and how that photo shoot was extremely validating. How do you think you’ve grown since, both personally and professionally?
I’m really coming into my own right now. I feel like that’s a weird thing to say at 62, but I’m really starting to figure out who I am as a woman, a mother, a wife, and a celebrity. The world is really opening up to me in a way it never has. And I love every minute of it. It’s so fun.
Speaking of fun…The Traitors is basically psychological warfare in fabulous outfits. What kind of mental prep did you do going in?
Outside of watching the previous seasons, zero. That’s all I did. What I came to realize is it really is just a game of luck at the end of the day. That took a lot of pressure off. While players like Mark Ballas watched every single season of Survivor and would turn their bedrooms into war rooms, here’s me with a wall of fashion and pre-planned outfits. That’s it. My preparation was the fashion.
Did competing on The Traitors change the way you think about trust or confirm everything you already suspected?
Competing didn’t change anything for me because I already know that you can’t trust anybody, especially in this business. I’m already hardened to that. For me, it was a game. I never took anything personally.
As someone who knows how reality TV works, which was harder to navigate: Traitors or Housewives?
Well, as a traitor, I had a secret to keep. Because of that, I’d say Traitors was harder to navigate. That’s just how the game works. Housewives isn’t treacherous while you’re filming; it's treacherous in the editing bay. Traitors is also extremely hard physically and psychologically.
Did any of the challenges really take it out of you?
Oh my god, the first one! That rowing was brutal. I couldn’t move in the morning, I was so sore.
How much of your strategy was instinct versus performance?
50/50! I put my soap opera hat on for my moment with Caroline Stanbury. I knew exactly what I was doing. And when she gave me a reaction, I was like, Oh, my god! This is fabulous. I mean, listen, I’m an actor, so I always know what I’m doing. And she got it. She understood it wasn’t personal. I said to her, “Listen, I gave you a way better death than if you had gone and picked up the envelope on that chair.” How boring!
Writing a book and starring on a reality show both involve controlling a narrative. Which one gave you less control and how did that feel?
The shows give you less control, for sure. You have no idea what will make it into an edit. It’s out of your hands! But with a book, I know exactly what’s making the cut.
Do you think competition shows like The Traitors reveal who we are or who we become under pressure?
Both! And I think viewers really get to see me face challenges on so many levels and in turn discover different sides of me.
Did you learn anything about yourself?
I learned that we only really use 10 percent of our power. We all have so much more we can achieve mentally and physically. We’re so much stronger, so much more resilient, so much more powerful than we give ourselves credit for.
Fans of the show are saying that you should have said, “IT WASN’T THE KISS! IT WAS THE AMULET!” and cleared the air about how you poisoned Yam Yam....did you think about it?
I didn’t. I should have, but we’re under so many restrictions while playing the game. I didn’t eat at that point, I was so exhausted. I was so ready to go home. I was happy to be voted out. I was running on fumes, and it’s hard to think of everything in the moment.
But I would have loved to say it wasn’t a kiss!! I kept insisting it was an air kiss. He kept saying I really kissed him, but no. I would not kiss your beard, Yam Yam. *laughs* Anyway, whatever. I don’t give a shit.
Are you looking forward to setting anything straight at the reunion?
No, I don’t have anything to set straight. I’m gonna kill it fashion-wise. I can’t wait for that part. I’m just gonna have a good time. I have no beef with anybody, really. They’re gonna have beef with me though. *laughs* Porsha Williams will come for me. But I’ll be like, “Whatever, you did it to yourself.” I have no fight in me. We were looking for secret traitors at the time, and Ron’s evidence was better than anyone else’s. That’s what people don’t remember about her elimination. Everyone, including the traitors, were looking for a secret traitor.
Were you guys surprised you got Donna Kelce out before she was even revealed to you?
Yes. And what’s crazy is we almost got her out the first episode. Everyone was already talking about her. But yes, we were surprised. We wanted that [secret] person out, though, because we were not in control.
Who from the cast have you kept in touch with the most?
A lot of them! Tara, for one.
I keep forgetting that she and Johnny are there…
The quiet ones go the furthest, always.
You’re right. That was true for Gabby Windey in the first half last season!
They really do go the furthest. But I also speak with Maura, Mark, Ron, Eric, and Caroline. Then Rob and Candiace, of course. Most of them, really. And that’s rare for me! *laughs*
But not Colton?
He was my great nemesis! I even said that to him. I’m used to having women come after me, not gay men, so that was different for me. But it makes for great television.
If you had to sum up this era of your life—the book, The Traitors, all of it—in one sentence…what would the pull quote be?
I’m Lisa fucking Rinna. Forever and always.
