The Feud Lisa Rinna Says Nearly Broke Her

Lisa Rinna is no stranger to confrontation, but in her latest book, she’s turning the spotlight on a chapter of her career that she says pushed her to the edge. 

While many fans assumed her harshest Hollywood clashes happened on reality TV, Rinna insists the real drama unfolded decades earlier on a daytime soap set. 

In “You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It,” she names the co-star she calls the “biggest bully,” and the experience still stings.

Given Lisa Rinna’s explosive tenure on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” readers might expect her most bitter rivalry to involve one of her fellow Housewives. 

Instead, Rinna traces her most painful professional conflict back to the early 1990s, during her time on “Days of Our Lives.”

Rinna portrayed Billie Reed on the long-running soap from 1992 to 1995. Her primary on-screen storyline revolved around a romance with Bo Brady, played at the time by Robert Kelker-Kelly. 

While their characters sizzled on screen, Rinna said the off-camera dynamic was anything but romantic. In her book, she addressed past accusations that she herself was Hollywood’s “biggest bully.” 

She pushed back firmly, writing per the Daily Mail, “Remember when Kathy Hilton said I was the biggest bully in Hollywood? Not true. Not even close!” 

She then added, “I have legit stories about the real bullies in this town. Robert Kelker-Kelly is one of those bullies.” 

Lisa Rinna did not mince words when recalling the environment she said she endured. 

“Behind-the-scenes we hated each other,” she wrote, summarizing what she claimed was constant friction between the two actors.

According to the actress, the situation escalated beyond personality clashes. She wrote,  “He made my life a living hell on the set of Days. He was horrible to me. I’d go so far as to say verbally abusive. He was passive-aggressive, manipulative, and played weird mind games.”

Rinna explained that the daily routine became emotionally draining, especially given the nature of their scenes. “I had to work with him every day, often half naked to do love scenes,” she noted. 

If she didn’t comply with what she said were his demands, she claimed he would shut down communication. “If I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d give me the silent treatment,” she said.

The unpredictability, Rinna wrote, was the hardest part. “He was a ticking time bomb. I never knew when I arrived on set each morning if I’d get nice Robert Kelker-Kelly or dark Robert Kelker-Kelly. He was unpredictable, and it was exhausting.”

The tension reportedly came to an abrupt halt when Kelker-Kelly left the show. Rinna recalled his sudden departure vividly, noting, “Suddenly, one day, he disappeared from the Days set.”

However, what happened next surprised her even more. “Next thing I knew Kristian and I had our own full-time security detail,” she alleged, referring to co-star Kristian Alfonso, who played Hope Brady, another of Bo’s love interests.

Rinna said she personally did not feel physically threatened, noting, “I wasn’t worried about physical harm, but NBC had to cover their ass.” 

According to her, the network assigned security outside their homes and trailers for several weeks and arranged transportation to and from work.

This isn’t the first time Lisa Rinna has discussed her difficult relationship with Kelker-Kelly. 

During a 2015 interview with Bravo, she made her feelings unmistakably clear. 

The 62-year-old stated that she “hated” Kelker-Kelly “with passion,” and he hated her with passion as well. Despite the hostility, their characters’ romance convinced viewers otherwise. 

“We were a volatile combination, and it looked like love and sexual chemistry on camera, so that was some darn good acting right there,” she admitted.

Ironically, the intensity that fueled their conflict may also have contributed to the drama’s believability, keeping fans invested in Billie and Bo’s storyline. 

After Kelker-Kelly’s exit, Peter Reckell, who originally played Bo Brady from 1983 to 1992, returned to the role. 

Rinna eventually left the soap in 1995 and was replaced by Krista Allen.

Although her first run as Billie Reed ended in 1995, Rinna’s relationship with “Days of Our Lives” did not. 

She returned to the show in 2002, again in 2012, and once more in 2018. She also appeared in the 2021 spin-off series “Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem.”

Between those returns, she expanded her career into primetime, joining “Melrose Place” for its final three seasons. 

Most recently, Rinna appeared in season four of “The Traitors,” continuing to reinvent herself decades after her soap debut. 

On the other hand, Kelker-Kelly, after his “Days” departure, remained active in daytime television before eventually transitioning into aviation as a pilot and flight instructor.