Inside Andy Cohen and Lisa Rinna’s Feud and Emotional Reconciliation

Lisa Rinna and Andy Cohen’s feud grew so intense that the Traitors season 4 star burned her former boss’ memoir in her fireplace.

The two were once close enough for Rinna to memorably lead a dance party full of Real Housewives stars at Cohen’s baby shower in 2019. She even joined forces with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills nemesis Garcelle Beauvais to celebrate Cohen receiving a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in February 2022.

However, Rinna’s close relationship with Cohen sharply deteriorated after she announced that she was leaving RHOBH in 2023. The unfiltered Real Housewives star later mockingly compared her former show to “the Titanic” during an interview on the “That’s a Gay Ass Podcast” in January 2025.

In February 2026, Rinna and Cohen were finally able to get back on the right track after the Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen host publicly apologized for leaking private text messages in his 2023 memoir, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up.

Keep scrolling for a rundown on Rinna and Cohen’s falling out and their reconciliation.

Lisa Rinna Announced Her Departure from ‘RHOBH’ in February 2023

Lisa Rinna spent eight seasons “owning it” — or, maybe not “owning it” depending on her costars’ views — on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She delivered some of the franchise’s most iconic moments, including an Amsterdam throwdown with Kim Richards and a nasty falling out with her former bestie Denise Richards.

By the time season 12 rolled around in 2022, Rinna had become an extremely divisive figure among Real Housewives fans and was even booed during an appearance at Bravocon.

“Well, I’d never been booed before,” Rinna exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2022. “I kind of thought it was the greatest thing ever. It’s like being a wrestler. I loved it.”

Three months later, Rinna made the shocking announcement that she had quit The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

“This is the longest job I have held in my 35-year career and I am grateful to everyone at Bravo and all those involved in the series,” she told Us in a statement. “It has been a fun 8-year run and I am excited for what is to come!’”

Andy Cohen Leaked Lisa Rinna’s Private Text Messages

Andy Cohen made the surprising decision to publish two private text messages sent by Lisa Rinna in his 2023 memoir, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up.

Cohen wrote that Rinna once texted him “after midnight saying she’s leaving” The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. A second text message was sent a week later where Rinna supposedly asked “if there was a path forward” to continue on RHOBH.

There proved to be no “path forward” at the time as Rinna announced her RHOBH departure in January 2023.

Lisa Rinna Compared ‘RHOBH’ to the Titanic in a Shady Interview

The gloves were off once Andy Cohen leaked some of Lisa Rinna’s text messages. During a 2025 appearance on the “That’s a Gay Ass Podcast,” Rinna offered a shady assessment of the state of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills following her exit.

“They’re always looking to save it. They’re always looking for something that will save it. I think they know it’s the Titanic,” she alleged. “I’m just going to say it. We all know it’s the f***ing Titanic.”

Rinna added,“That’s probably the No. 1 franchise because it’s Beverly Hills.”

Andy Cohen Confronted Lisa Rinna Over Her ‘Titanic’ Comments

Andy Cohen’s interview with Lisa Rinna on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live in February 2025 was noticeably awkward. He asked point blank why Rinna was “saying that the show is the Titanic” and accused her of “mouth[ing] off.”

“Hello, have you met me?” she joked, before later telling Cohen: “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. Erika [Jayne] told me last night. I saw her in the show. I went to see Chicago.”

Cohen wasn’t having it. He insinuated Rinna was disloyal for shading RHOBH while her close friend Erika Jayne was still a cast member.

“I put my foot in my mouth,” she insisted. “That show’s gonna go on and on.”

However, Rinna later admitted that she’d genuinely meant to compare The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to the Titanic.

“I meant to say Titanic, and I said it and I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. Let’s move on,” she quipped.

Cohen poked fun at Rinna for giving “an old-school Housewife apology” or “non-apology apology.”

“It was?” Rinna asked. “I don’t really feel bad about it though.”

Lisa Rinna Later Walked Back Her Public Apology

On a March 2025 episode of her “Let’s Not Talk About the Husband” podcast, Lisa Rinna debriefed with her husband, Harry Hamlin, about her tense interview with Cohen. Rinna confirmed that she’d originally apologized to Cohen off air but he insisted on bringing up the issue during their interview.

“First thing I say to him: ‘Gosh, you know what? Erika [Jayne] told me that you didn’t like that I said that about the Titanic, and hey, if I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry,’” she remembered. “And he giggles and he goes, ‘Wait, wait, we’re gonna talk about this on the radio.’”

Once Cohen called her out on the air, Rinna said that she regressed to a pattern with her former boss that she thought she’d moved beyond.

“What happened to me, I believe is, the minute I walked into that space, I [fell] into a trope of Housewife to Big Daddy,” she told Hamlin. “I fall back into a role that I played, I believe, for eight years where I give my power to Andy Cohen, who is my boss. Just dynamically, that is where I went right back to. Almost like a little girl going back to the role she plays in her family.”

Lisa Rinna Revealed That She Burned Andy Cohen’s Memoir in Her Fireplace

Lisa Rinna took the opportunity to throw some shade back at Andy Cohen in her own 2026 memoir, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It. She shared her initial reaction when Cohen tipped her off that he was writing about her RHOBH exit in his 2023 book.

“When anyone gives you a heads-up that you’re in their book, you know you’re f***ed,” Rinna wrote.

Rinna said she specifically took exception to Cohen publishing two of her private text messages for the whole world to see.

“He included my personal text messages. It was so shady, so Andy, so Bravo, so unnecessary,” she complained. “After I read it, I was so mad, I threw his book in my fireplace and watched it burn gleefully.”

Andy Cohen Confronted Lisa Rinna for Burning His Book

Andy Cohen and Lisa Rinna came face-to-face once again on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in February 2026, where he confirmed he’d privately apologized for leaking her texts.

“You write in the book about … my publishing a couple of text messages that really pissed you off. Text messages from you that I put in my book Daddy Diaries pissed you off so much that you burned my book in your fireplace,” Cohen explained. “I apologize for publishing those texts. … I’ve had that done to me and I didn’t like it. I had all these reasons for doing it and when I really thought about it, I was like, ‘Oh wait, I gotta apologize.’ So, I’m sorry!”

However, Cohen then jokingly complained that Rinna was “so extra that you burned the freaking book.”

“It was so beautiful to watch your book go up in flames! Andy, really, it’s an honor that I would burn your book. It’s kind of an honor,” Rinna insisted.

More seriously, Cohen credited Lisa for “showing up” for him on two very important days — first at his 2019 baby shower and later at his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star ceremony in 2022.

“I just want to thank you. You showed up for me on two very important days for me and that is not lost on me,” Cohen told her. “I really appreciate that and I’ll never forget it.”

Rinna warmly replied, “It was my absolute pleasure.”