Lisa Rinna Turns Harry Hamlin Gay Rumors Into a Final Word

The Moment

After nearly 29 years of marriage, Lisa Rinna has officially had it with the whispers about Harry Hamlin.

In her new book, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It, which hit shelves Tuesday, the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star goes straight for one of the longest-running rumors in her orbit: that her husband is secretly gay.

“Let’s just clear this up one last time, once and for all: Harry’s heterosexual,” she writes, adding that he is “not a gay man in any way, shape or form, not that there’s anything wrong with that,” according to an excerpt quoted in a Feb. 24, 2026 report from Page Six.

Rinna, 62, says she actually didn’t hear the speculation until she joined RHOBH in 2014. Once she did, she treated it like background noise, chalking it up to people trying to get under her skin: “I just figured bitches will say anything to get my hackles up, so it never concerned me.”

But the book doesn’t just shut down the rumor; it rewinds the tape. Rinna points to Hamlin’s 1982 movie Making Love, where he played an openly gay man, as the thing that first put him in the crosshairs of “Is he?” speculation. She says the choice was brave, cost him work for years, and still follows him four decades later.

Now, Rinna’s message is basically: believe what you want, but inside their marriage, she’s unbothered, they’re solid, and if Harry is cheating with anyone, she’d be “shocked.”

The Take

I’ll be honest: I did not have “Lisa Rinna writes a memoir and debunks a 40-year gay rumor” on my 2026 bingo card. And yet, here we are.

What she’s really doing, though, is something bigger than just “my husband is straight, thanks.” She’s calling out a tired Hollywood equation that still hasn’t fully died: good-looking man + tailored clothes + plays a gay role = must be secretly gay.

It’s lazy, it’s dated, and it’s weirdly insulting to everyone involved – gay men, straight men, and the women who marry them.

Rinna’s Housewives world practically runs on innuendo. On that show, every husband’s sexuality is roasted at some point, usually as a shortcut to a storyline. She even says in the book that “every husband’s sexuality was questioned at some point on that show.” It’s the reality-TV version of passing notes in middle school, just with better glam and worse group texts.

What makes Harry Hamlin’s case different is the origin story. Those whispers didn’t start because he was caught doing anything; they started because, in 1982, he took a role that almost no straight leading man would touch. Making Love was one of the first mainstream American films to center on a gay relationship. At the time, it was considered risky at best and career suicide at worst.

Hamlin has said in past interviews that the movie hurt his leading-man image and opportunities in the ’80s. Rinna doubles down on that in the book, calling it a “brave decision” that “bit him in the ass” and claiming he was effectively sidelined for years afterward, only really landing another big studio film with 2023’s football comedy 80 for Brady.

So you’ve got this strange cultural loop: a man plays a gay character to bring visibility, gets punished for it by the industry, and then spends decades fielding rumors that he is what he once got in trouble for portraying. It’s like doing the right thing and then having it follow you around as a punchline.

And, yes, Rinna is also doing what Rinna does best: turning real life into content. A memoir needs headlines, and “Harry’s heterosexual” is a clean, clickable one. But I don’t get the sense she’s tortured about it. She sounds more amused and a little over it than defensive. The vibe is, “We’re fine. Next question.”

There’s also a generational note here for those of us 40 and up. Many remember when “Is he gay?” was whispered like it was a scandal, not a neutral fact about a person’s life. Rinna is straddling that line: she shuts down the rumor about Harry, while making it clear there’s nothing wrong with being gay and reminding people that his taking that role actually helped others.

In other words, she’s trying to close the book on a question that probably shouldn’t have been a “gotcha” in the first place.

Receipts

Confirmed

• Lisa Rinna addresses rumors about Harry Hamlin’s sexuality in her memoir You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It, stating “Harry’s heterosexual” and “not a gay man in any way, shape or form,” as quoted in Page Six on Feb. 24, 2026.
• Rinna and Hamlin have been married since 1997 and share two daughters, Delilah Belle and Amelia Gray, a fact long documented in public bios and past interviews.
• Harry Hamlin starred as an openly gay character in the 1982 film Making Love, directed by Arthur Hiller. This is confirmed by film records and mainstream film databases.
• Hamlin has previously said that taking the role in Making Love affected his career opportunities, including in a 2014 interview where he described the film as ahead of its time and acknowledged an industry backlash.
• Rinna has spoken publicly about their sex life and long-term relationship before, including a 2024 magazine interview where she said they “have great sex together” but less frequently with age, and a 2025 podcast appearance where she said sex in her 60s is better because of her increased confidence, as summarized in the same 2026 report.

Unverified / subjective

• Rinna’s claim that Hamlin was “blacklisted for several years” after Making Love is her interpretation of the career fallout; no formal blacklist has been documented.
• Her statement that “every husband’s sexuality was questioned” on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reflects her experience and opinion of the show’s culture, not a fact that can be independently measured.
• The idea that it took “40 years” to land another studio movie, until 2023’s 80 for Brady, simplifies a much more complicated career path that included steady television and film work.

Backstory (For Casual Readers)

If you only know Lisa Rinna as the woman with the lips and the memes, a quick refresher: she first hit big on soaps like Days of Our Lives and Melrose Place, then became a staple of reality TV and home shopping before joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in 2014. She left the show in 2023 but has stayed visible on competition series like The Traitors and through her outspoken social media presence.

Harry Hamlin, now 74, is best known for playing Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans and hotshot attorney Michael Kuzak on the legal drama L.A. Law. In 1982, he starred in Making Love, one of the first mainstream American films to center on a gay relationship, playing a confident gay writer involved with a married man. At the time, it was considered a bold move and, by many accounts, cooled Hollywood’s appetite for him as a traditional romantic lead.

Rinna and Hamlin married in 1997 and became a kind of Hollywood power-couple-lite: not A-list, but always around, always working, and always willing to let viewers peek behind the curtain. Their daughters, Delilah Belle and Amelia Gray, have since built their own careers in modeling and social media, keeping the family in the spotlight.

Within the RHOBH fandom, rumors about Hamlin’s sexuality bubbled up alongside the usual reality-show chaos – cheating accusations, financial drama, and friendship implosions. Rinna largely laughed it off on camera, but with her memoir, she’s finally putting her official stamp on the story.

What’s Next

Rinna’s book is clearly designed to keep people talking, so this probably won’t be the last time we hear about Harry’s experience with Making Love and the backlash that followed. Expect this chapter to come up again on talk shows, podcasts, and any reunion-style sit-downs she does to promote the memoir.

It will also likely re-open an ongoing conversation in Hollywood: what happens when straight actors take on gay roles, who pays the career price, and why those choices are still treated like a personality clue instead of a casting decision. In Hamlin’s case, Rinna is arguing that his choice was both costly and worth it – that he “changed so many people’s lives” and would do it again.

Inside their marriage, if you take Rinna at her word, not much is changing. She says they have a “great deal of trust,” she doesn’t worry about cheating, and yes, she’s still talking about their sex life in her 60s like it’s better than ever. That part is very on-brand.

What may change is the tone of the conversation around them. Turning a rumor into a written record is a way of saying, “We’re done re-litigating this.” Whether the internet listens is another story.

So I’ll throw it to you: when a celebrity finally addresses a long-running rumor head-on – especially about something as personal as sexuality – does it actually close the door, or does it just give the story a second life?

Sources: Lisa Rinna’s memoir excerpts as quoted in Page Six (Feb. 24, 2026); Harry Hamlin career history and Making Love role as reflected in widely available film records and past on-the-record interviews about the movie’s impact.