It’s been years since the infamous Aspen meltdown that shook the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills world, but Harry Hamlin still vividly recalls the aftermath of his wife Lisa Rinna’s tense encounter with Kathy Hilton. During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Hamlin shared his thoughts on how Rinna was deeply impacted by Hilton’s off-camera outburst.
When asked by host Andy Cohen about the drama that unfolded during the Season 12 trip, Hamlin didn’t hold back. He revealed that when Rinna returned from Aspen, she was visibly shaken, recalling, “She was white as a sheet. I have never seen anybody so messed up by what she’d encountered in Aspen.”
Harry Hamlin’s candid recollection painted a picture of just how intense the situation was, with the actor adding that it was “very, very intense.” For him, the whole ordeal was something unlike anything he had ever witnessed.
As Hamlin spoke, Kyle Richards—who has her own complicated history with sister Kathy Hilton, thanks to the fallout from the trip—sat beside him, clearly uncomfortable. Kyle Richards, ever the good sport, couldn’t help but joke, “I’m eyeing the exit signs,” as she sipped her drink, a nod to the ongoing tension surrounding her sister’s relationship with Kathy.
The controversy at the heart of the Aspen drama centered around an alleged “psychotic break” that Rinna claimed Hilton experienced after a DJ refused to play Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Things took a darker turn when Hilton reportedly lashed out at her fellow co-stars, including her sister Richards, with threats of ruining their reputations.
Kathy Hilton herself, however, offered a different perspective on the situation. In an interview with Variety back in October 2022, she admitted to saying some “pretty strong things” but denied Rinna’s version of the events. “What I said was not what Lisa said,” Hilton clarified, expressing disbelief over the claims that she had been plotting to “take somebody down.”
The drama between these two has since simmered down, but the echoes of that chaotic moment still linger in RHOBH history, with Hamlin’s remarks only adding more fuel to the fire. For Richards, it seems that the whole experience is still hard to shake off.
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