On November 15, Lisa Rinna confirmed the heartbreaking news that her mom, Lois, had passed on after suffering a stroke. She was 93 years old at the time of her death but, as Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans came to know over the years, she had an enduring youthful spirit that will be very much missed. Coming up on the 8-month anniversary of the loss, Rinna shared in a since-deleted social media post just how much she misses her mom and is struggling to cope with a new normal.
The reality star wrote on her Instagram on July 5 that the grieving process has taken her quite by surprise because it’s not just sadness she’s feeling; there’s, apparently, anger too that she’s also taking out on others. In the caption for the post, Lisa Rinna candidly remarked that she has “raged on” people of late as a result of her mom’s death. She didn’t really elaborate with specifics but did apologize, adding that she’s hopeful that she’ll be better in the future. She wrote:
I have had a really rough time of it I think you’ve seen how hard this has hit me. I’m sorry if I’ve raged on you, about you — it really has nothing to do with any of you. I never thought I would feel this way. I really thought grief would be about sadness and pain but it’s so much more. I am really struggling, I just never thought it would feel like this but here it is. Losing my Mom has really hit me hard. Thank you for your patience with me I know it’s not easy to have warm fuzzies for me right now but I’ll get through this and hopefully come out the other side stronger and better. Thank you for your support and your love. I so so appreciate it.
Some spectators have interpreted Lisa Rinna’s mea culpa to be about certain online rants of hers. There was trouble last week involving RHOBH’s Garcelle Beauvais calling Diana Jenkins “uneducated” in the latter’s spat with a Black content creator. Per Page Six, the situation had prompted Rinna to speak out, saying that any of them critiquing Beauvais (who is the show’s first and only Black cast member) doesn’t automatically make them “racist,” as was suggested, in her view. (She had also commented that “triggered” “pussies” should go watch The Real Housewives of Dubai instead.) Suffice to say, it wasn’t well-received, and neither was the later apology, which is thought to be why Rinna decided to delete it altogether.
Still, losing a loved one is a difficult emotional mind field to navigate, no matter who you are or how old you are. The reality TV vet’s former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star/frenemy, Lisa Vanderpump, found this out herself in the wake of both her brother and mother’s deaths in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Another fellow franchise star, NeNe Leakes from the Atlanta spinoff, has talked about how she still grieves for her late husband, Gregg Leakes, almost 11 months later.
Lois Rinna became something of a quirky TV personality like her daughter in recent years. She was frequently featured on the sidelines of Real Housewives drama, with her own story to tell. In the latest season (airing new episodes on Wednesdays on Bravo and next day via Peacock Premium), Rinna had even suggested that her mom might be a sympathetic listener for Dorit Kemsley in the wake of her traumatizing home invasion. (Lois had talked on the show previously about the traumatic attack in her younger years by a co-worker – who later went on to become notorious serial killer David Carpenter.) Sadly, before such a conversation could take place, the matriarch suffered her fatal stroke.
As a result of the tragedy, the 58-year-old has been missing from some cast events and drama on Season 12 of RHOBH. However, she did go on their Mexico trip not long after her mom’s passing, saying at the time that Lois would’ve wanted her to be with her girlfriends and have some fun. In a sweet gesture, the ladies gave a toast to Lois, who all remarked how she had a long and beautiful life.
Whatever the real impetus behind the now-missing post, it’s clear that Lisa Rinna is still working through her emotions. And as always, she appears perfectly content to do so on a very public forum. Hopefully, she finds the closure she’s looking for, because that’s surely what Lois would have wanted.