“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” returns Wednesday with one noticeable cast change: no more Lisa Rinna.
The polarizing actress, who was a cast member on the Bravo series since Season 6, sent an email to production announcing her departure from the show in September 2022 — a screenshot of which is shown in the Season 13 premiere. Rinna’s departure was publicly announced in January 2023.
“My friend is gone,” Jayne says in the season premiere. “We’ll see what happens…”
TheWrap caught up with Jayne just before the season premiere and asked her how things have changed since Rinna’s departure.
“We just saw each other over the weekend,” Jayne said. “We’re still close friends.” When pressed about how’s Rinna’s exit affected her relationship with her remaining castmates going into the new season, Jayne replied, “It’s something I’m working on. I wouldn’t necessarily call all of them ‘friends.’”
Fellow housewife Sutton Stracke, on the other hand, feels a sense of relief after Rinna’s exit.
“The dynamic changed a lot,” explained Stracke, a frequent target of Rinna’s attacks. “You can’t blame one person for anything. I just think without Lisa, the dynamic changed. We had a really fun season. We still have arguments. There’s animosity, there’s still stuff. It’s just we have more fun. It was just lighter.”
Stracke also revealed she hasn’t talked to Rinna since the Season 12 reunion, but hopes they will reconnect since they run in the same circles.
“At the end of the reunion, it seemed good,” the Sutton boutique owner reflected. “I would like to get to a place with Lisa where we’re friends again, eventually. But so much has happened. And so much bitterness was there that I think we just needed a break. And we have so many friends in common. I’d like to see us come back at some point.”
As for her relationship with Jayne, which has run more cold than warm, Stracke admits she likes her costar, and believes the feeling is mutual despite their differences.
“I like Erika and I want her to succeed in her life,” Stracke said. “I wish her nothing but success. Do Erika and I like to fight? Yeah, it’s just in our nature. I don’t know what it is about our personalities. We enjoy it, I think. But at the end of the day, we like each other.”
One thing Stracke and Jayne do agree on? They both like newcomer Annemarie Wiley, who will debut several episodes into the new season.
“She has an interesting history,” Jayne explained. “And I like that she speaks her mind.”
“Annemarie, she comes in and is a very strong personality,” Stracke agreed. “Which is impressive, because this group of women is tough. And so she comes in very strong.”
You can see Jayne, Strack and the rest of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” when the show premieres Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.