The thing that is always most interesting to me with reality television is getting to the story behind the story. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has been intense this season and legitimately intense.
Some of the stars are freaking out about how this season of the show is making them look. That is the gist of the story behind the story. So we have actor Harry Hamlin, husband of Lisa Rinna who appears a handful of times on the show and evades any on screen drama–well except for the big “secret” that Kim Richards is threatening to expose.
But Harry himself says nothing on-screen even remotely controversial. But his wife, Lisa Rinna opens a Pandora’s box by suggesting Yolanda Hadid was faking her Lyme disease….specifically she accuses her of having a psychological disorder called Munchausen syndrome.
So Rinna also accuses Lisa Vanderpump of pushing her to consistently bring up Munchausen.
Rinna claimed that when Yolanda showed up to her birthday party her husband Harry Hamlin supported Yolanda while Ken Todd blasted her and Lisa saying, “There goes our f*cking story line.”
On the Reunion Rinna yelled to LVP, “You encouraged me to say Munchausen’s!”
And then pulled out her phone records yelling, “Ten f*cking phone calls!”.
Yolanda then walked off.
Recently I wrote about how it looks all but certain that Lisa Vanderpump had Rinna fired from RHOBH and it looks like Rinna is beside herself about the decision.
Cut to Harry Hamlin making this statement to E online.
The media is suggesting that Harry is sort of betraying Lisa with the statement, but when you understand the story behind the story it looks more like Hamlin is actually in damage control for his wife Lisa. The only way for LR to get back on the show is via Lisa Vanderpump.
Given that Rinna’s relationship with Vanderpump has been severely damaged all that she has left in her arsenal is her A-list husband. So this is an effort to have A-List Harry kiss Lisa’s ass and subversively beg for his wife’s job back.
This is what Harry said to E about Vanderpump,
“She’s so funny,” ……. “At the end of the day, this is a TV show. The only difference between this and a nighttime soap is the blood isn’t fake!”
And then Harry clarifies his earlier comments about Yolanda being ‘sick’,
“Well, what I actually said was ‘We really need to support her.’ I never said ‘whether she’s sick or not,'” he claims. “That was I think in the second time Lisa mentioned it, she said it that way. And I said to Lisa, ‘You know I don’t think I said it that way.’ And she goes, ‘Oh right, well…’ Obviously Yolanda needs support. Whatever she’s going through, it’s taking a toll on her and it’s very challenging for her.”
So the clarification is also an olive branch to Yolanda because it’s a way to say look my A-List hubby is on your side so it’s not as bad as it all appears.
I think LR is in serious damage control. She likely thought she was doing her ‘job’ by bringing up Munchausen…helping the storyline, but when all the pushback came she felt the need to reveal that she was not acting alone. Problem is the effort to save her own ass and reputation has backfired because she made LVP look bad.
So is their “discord” between LR and Harry Hamlin? I don’t think so…at least I don’t think this interview indicates that…especially because Lisa Rinna proudly tweeted the article a few hours ago which really makes me think HH was going to bat for his wife of nearly 20 years.
The damage may be done and it may be too late but I suspect Rinna will keep trying to throw out branches. She will fight for this gig. Otherwise she knows she will have to go back to plugging adult diapers…and no one wants that.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills three-part reunion special begins Tuesday, April 19 at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
Lisa Vanderpump accused more than once of ‘manipulating storylines’