Throwing shade? Lisa Rinna announced she would be exiting The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — and former costar Lisa Vanderpump was seemingly quick to share her thoughts on the matter.
“Ding dong,” Vanderpump, 62, tweeted on Thursday, January 5, just hours after Rinna, 59, revealed she wouldn’t be returning to the Bravo series. The comment appeared to reference lyrics from the song “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” which was featured in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
The two women have found themselves in various on-air feuds over the years and were at odds once again in 2019 when the Veronica Mars alum accused the England native of attempting to capitalize on the success of the Real Housewives by making a new show surrounding her dog rescue, Vanderpump Dogs.
The drama initially started during season 9 of the reality series, when the restauranteur found herself in the middle of a divide when Vanderpump Dogs staffer John Blizzard claimed to costar Kyle Richards and Teddi Mellencamp that Dorit Kemsley’s former adopted puppy ended up in a kill shelter.
In March 2019, multiple sources told Us Weekly that a spinoff revolving around the business was indeed “in the works,” upsetting some of the RHOBH costars — including Rinna, who took to social media to share her frustrations about the rumors.
“I’m a hustler. I make no bones about that. I think you get paid for what you do. So my feeling is, if we indeed are servicing a spinoff, we should be paid for it,” the former soap star wrote via her Instagram Stories at the time. “I am so happy for all of us to use this platform for makeup lines, bathing suit lines, network TV shows, restaurants, [charities], clothing lines, fitness empires, you name it. I support these women, 100 percent.”
The Days of Our Lives alum added that she expected to be paid for her involvement in the project.
“But if you are going to use our services without telling us — that we are playing out a storyline to launch a pilot for a new show and you don’t compensate us extra for that — yeah, I’m a hustler. I get paid for what I do,” she said. “So, if this indeed becomes another show, my lawyer will be calling.”
When Peacock confirmed the new reality show would be picked up in July 2020, Rinna updated fans with her thoughts.
“I was right all along. Everyone lied to my face about this and here we are. So, maybe you’ll believe me this time around,” she captioned an Instagram Story that same month.
Vanderpump, for her part, wound up exiting RHOBH halfway through season 9 amid the drama. In March 2021, she opened up exclusively to Us about why she decided to walk away after almost a decade on the show.
“I left because I was very, very, very unhappy and I didn’t appreciate being called a liar,” she told Us during an episode of the “Getting Real with the Housewives” podcast. “To accuse me of selling a story, when you never get stories come out of my restaurants, you know, so it was such an insult to me. It was about my heart, it was about the Vanderpump Dog Foundation, which was something that was born out of complete compassion and my passion project. I just thought, ‘I’m done with it.’”
On Thursday, Rinna, who joined the RHOBH in season 5, explained why she felt it was now her turn to move on.
“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!’”
The former soap star’s rep added that because her contract was “up at the end of last season,” Rinna took the “time to weigh her current options and business obligations” and ultimately “mutually decided” with Bravo that she would not return to the franchise.
