With big lips, iconic hair, and a passion for pot-stirring, Lisa Rinna is one of the most polarizing Real Housewives ever. You either hate her, you love her, or you’re constantly caught between the two emotions. Regardless of where you land on Rinna right now, we can all agree that her messy antics kept Real Housewives of Beverly Hills moving for years. So, where do we go now that she’s gone?
Yahoo’s In the Know caught up with Kyle Richards to discuss the upcoming season and the Rinna-sized hole left in the cast. And although Kyle will be down a friend in Season 13, she’s found a silver lining amid the cast shakeup. She thinks other friendships will have space to blossom.
Kyle explained, “For me, Lisa Rinna brought a lot to the show. I don’t want that getting lost in what I am going to say. Whenever someone is really tight with another cast member, and they leave, then all of a sudden that person who was very close to them is going to have to be more open to other relationships — especially Erika [Girardi], I would say,” she added.
The RHOBH star continued, “I’ve always been close with Erika, and we had our issues this last year, but people end up leaning on their wingman a lot, so it does open up the door to be closer to other people.”
Kyle makes a great point. Over the years, Rinna and Erika Jayne have evolved into an indomitable duo. That is especially true as Erika’s legal crises became a major storyline on the show. She’s bound to ease up a little bit without Rinna.
Of course, Bravo hasn’t confirmed the official lineup for Season 13 of the RHOBH. All we know is that Lisa Rinna and Diana Jenkins are out. Whether or not we’ll meet any new cast members is up in the air. Kyle is looking forward to connecting with some of the less-seasoned Housewives, like Crystal Kung Minkoff and Sutton Stracke.
Kyle explained, “I feel like Crystal and I really haven’t had a chance [to get close]. We’ve had moments of not getting along, but when we don’t have those moments, we get along great. We just haven’t gotten close.”
She shifted her focus to the Southern Belle of the cast. Kyle said, “I feel close to Sutton, which I don’t think you see on the show, but we actually are close in real life. They can only use so much in the season, but it was the same thing with Eileen Davidson.”
She continued, “We had the best time together, but you didn’t really see us together. Same thing with Sutton. We get along great. She makes me laugh, and we have fun together. The other girls we’ve had years on the show, so we have a relationship.”
Kyle also explained that the cast is currently enjoying the longest filming break they’ve ever had. It’s been four months since they shot the reunion. The actress shared that usually, the turnaround time between shooting a reunion and starting production on the next season is one month. So, when they return for the Rinna-less Season 13, the cast will have had some solid time to reset from the shenanigans of Season 12.
“I have a solid four months off here, and I’ve been spending some time in our new home in Aspen, some time with our friends, some family trips and girls’ trips, and just trying to enjoy myself and not think about the show and move on from it,” Kyle said.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK RHOBH WILL LOOK LIKE WITHOUT LISA RINNA? SHOULD THEY ADD NEW CAST MEMBERS? DO YOU AGREE WITH KYLE’S PREDICTION THAT ERIKA WILL BE FORCED TO OPEN UP MORE WITHOUT RINNA AROUND?
[Photo by: Nicole Weingart/Bravo]
