Up in the air in the Hills. After dealing with dramatic feuds and relationship breakdowns on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12, the cast is playing coy about whether they are ready to do it all again next season.
“Well, [a departure] may happen, but you won’t put me on pause. It would be a mutual decision,” Lisa Rinna exclusively told Us Weekly at BravoCon 2022 on Friday, October 14, referring to her line in the season 12 trailer when she asked producers to put her “on pause” from the show. “You know what I mean? Like, you know, it, life happens. Whatever is meant to be, will be. And that’s how I always look at things.”
While the Rinna Beauty founder, 59, played coy about a potential RHOBH exit amid ongoing speculation, she told Us how it would feel if season 12 was truly her swan song.
“This is a hard season. I would, I don’t feel at peace after this season whether I came back or not. You know what I’m saying?” Rinna said at the New York City event. “This was a very, very difficult season for everybody, but especially for me because of my mom. And I just had a really rough time, probably the roughest year of my life, you know? And that’s just the truth.”
Rinna’s mother, Lois Rinna, died in November 2021 at the age of 93 after suffering a stroke. Lisa, for her part, had struggled to manage her grief throughout season 12’s episodes. The former soap star doubled down on dealing with her “tough” experience on set during the RHOBH ladies’ Javits Center panel.
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s been rough. It’s probably been the roughest year of my life” Lisa told moderator Brad Goreski during the panel, noting it’s way harder being a Housewife than being a soap opera actress because “it’s real.” She explained, “These are people that I do care about and we get into conflicts that we don’t plan and it’s very, very hard.”
The Melrose Place alum isn’t the only RHOBH personality dealing with the fallout of a difficult season. Kathy Hilton, for her part, has been at odds with sister Kyle Richards and Lisa after the twosome allegedly witnessed her “absolute meltdown” during their cast trip to Aspen.
The Paris in Love alum, 63, further teased to Us what it would take for her to sign on for season 13 of the Bravo hit.
“If it’s same exact cast? Absolutely not,” Hilton exclusively said after being asked if she’d return. “I’m just a friend, so it doesn’t matter. … I don’t ever like to say what other people should be. I just think that you need to mix things up a little bit.”
Other RHOBH stars also noted they weren’t sure which ladies would headline season 13, but Erika Jayne is already pitching future story lines.
“I would like for us to have some fun,” the Pretty Mess author, 51, told Us on Friday while attending the convention. “I think that the last few years have been super heavy and I think that [the] Housewives cast and audience deserves a little bit more fun and a little bit more like, you know, we need to laugh a little.”
While the Bravolebrities wait with bated breath to find out their Housewives future, executive producer Andy Cohen explained that he’s already “had the conversations internally” with several of the stars.
“I think that cast shakeups are always in the offing for any season, for any city,” Cohen, 53, told Us on Friday. “It’s a conversation that we always have. It’s the reason that this franchise [has] been going for 16 years. We like to keep it fresh and we consider everything.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
