Andy Cohen called out Lisa Rinna for literally burning his memoir The Daddy Diaries: The 12 months I Grew Up in her fireplace.
“You’re so extra that you simply burned the freaking book,” Cohen, 57, quipped during an interview with Rinna, 62, on the Wednesday, February 25, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
The drama between the WWHL host and the Traitors star dates back to the publication of Cohen’s 2023 memoir, through which he revealed that Rinna once texted him “after midnight saying she’s leaving” The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2023. Cohen published that initial text and a followup where Rinna allegedly asked “if there was a path forward” to proceed on RHOBH from one week later. (Rinna ultimately left the Bravo series after season 12.)
In her latest memoir You Higher Imagine I’m Gonna Talk About It, Rinna confirmed that she was initially furious about Cohen publishing her late-night texts.
“When anyone gives you a heads-up that you simply’re of their book, you recognize you’re f***ed,” Rinna wrote. “He included my personal text messages. It was so shady, so Andy, so Bravo, so unnecessary. After I read it, I used to be so mad, I threw his book in my fireplace and watched it burn gleefully.”
As they broke down the controversy on Wednesday’s edition of Watch What Happens Live, Cohen confirmed that he apologized on to Rinna once they recently met up on the Traitors season 4 reunion. (Cohen hosts The Traitors’ end-of-season solid reunion specials.)
“You write within the book about … my publishing a few text messages that basically pissed you off. Text messages from you that I put in my book Daddy Diaries pissed you off a lot that you simply burned my book in your fireplace,” Cohen explained.
He went on, “I apologize for publishing those texts. … I’ve had that done to me and I didn’t prefer it. I had all these reasons for doing it and once I really considered it, I used to be like, ‘Oh wait, I gotta apologize.’ So, I’m sorry!”
Andy Cohen; Lisa Rinna Getty Images / Maya Dehlin Spach (2)
“You apologized in that moment and it meant the world,” Rinna replied.
Cohen’s biggest query was whether his Daddy Diaries book burned “easily” when Rinna tossed it into her fireplace.
“It did,” she insisted. “It was so beautiful to look at your book go up in flames! Andy, really, it’s an honor that I might burn your book. It’s form of an honor.”
The 2 also touched on where they stand after Rinna’s somewhat contentious exit from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Cohen said it was “very clear” to him that Rinna still has “a really complicated relationship” with each him and the Housewives franchise.
“What I noticed is that you simply showed up for me on two of an important days of my life,” Cohen identified.
The Watch What Happens Live host mentioned Rinna’s iconic dancing at his baby shower in 2019, along with her giving a speech during his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in February 2022. The second occasion occurred shortly after the death of Rinna’s mom Lois and on the heels of her infamous Aspen, Colorado, blowout with Kathy Hilton on the set of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Lisa Rinna got emotional on The Traitors about how her retirement from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills affected her. Warning: spoilers ahead for the most recent episode of The Traitors. In the course of the Thursday, January 29, episode of the hit Peacock series, Lisa, 62, was the most recent person to be banished on the roundtable. She then […]
“I just wish to thanks. You showed up for me on two very essential days for me and that is just not lost on me,” Cohen said. “I actually appreciate that and I’ll always remember it.”
Rinna assured Cohen, “It was my absolute pleasure.”
Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen airs on Bravo Sundays through Thursdays. Recent episodes can be found the following day on Peacock.