Never talk about the husband?
Lisa Rinna is opening up about a longstanding rumor about her husband.
Is Harry Hamlin gay?
What has people making this claim after so many years?
Let’s get one thing straight (it’s him)
Lisa Rinna’s new book, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It, is out.
Within the pages, she delves into rumors about husband Harry Hamlin’s sexuality.
“Let’s just clear this up one last time, once and for all: Harry’s heterosexual,” she writes.
“He is not a gay man in any way, shape or form,” Lisa clarifies.
Lisa adds: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” That can be a loaded phrase, but we suspect that she means it sincerely.
Sometimes, people go into a marriage to know that rumors — true or baseless — follow their partner.
In Lisa’s case, she’d never heard these whispers about Harry until 2014 — when she joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
“I just figured bitches will say anything to get my hackles up, so it never concerned me,” she reasons.
Bravoholics may recall that Lisa pretty famously ran afoul of some of her castmates — particularly one Kim Richards.
Despite the glass-shattering incident of viral fame, Lisa adds: “My reaction was always more, ‘why you mad, boo?’”
He wasn’t the only husband under inexplicable scrutiny — but why him, specifically?
Lisa writes that “every husband’s sexuality was questioned at some point on that show.”
That makes a lot of sense, unfortunately.
In our deeply homophobic (and biphobic) society, the suggestion that a spouse might not be straight is often intended to be an insult — no matter what assurances the person tries to make.
Biphobia sows mistrust towards bi women even as bi women are fetishized and sexualized. Biphobia portrays bi men as undesirable partners for men or for women. It’s all nonsense and it’s rooted in repulsive bigotry.
As for Harry, Lisa explains: “When you’re a good-looking man in Hollywood with a good sense of style, that adds up to ‘is he gay?’”
Lisa Rinna's book is out, giving her a great opportunity to comment on the Colton Underwood drama on The Traitors. “It was all in gameplay, so don’t think I was poking at that stalker thing."
— fanana hammock (@fananahammock.bsky.social) February 24, 2026 at 10:08 AM
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In 1981, Harry Hamlin took on what may still be his most iconic role: Perseus in Clash of the Titans. He was super hot, and this alone could have accounted for at least a few rumors.
Then, in 1982, Harry played Bart McGuire (no relation to Lizzie McGuire) in Making Love. Bart is an openly gay character — one who has an affair with a man who identifies as straight.
“Mainstream films about gay men are still rare today, but back then it was unheard of,” Lisa very correctly acknowledges.
“He does what rings true to him,” she explains. “It was something that he felt was absolutely necessary to do. Harry made a brave decision, and it bit him in the ass.”
She’s no talking about the rumors, either. Lisa notes that Harry was “blacklisted for several years afterward.” But she adds: “To this day, Harry says he would do ‘Making Love’ all over again because it was so impactful.”
Sexuality aside, she trusts her husband
Truth be told, if people wanted to assume that Harry Hamlin is what he portrays on screen, you’d think that people would assume that he’s evil.
We’re still haunted by his character’s actions on Mayfair Witches. And, truth be told, he’s even more evil on Veronica Mars.
It seems most likely that people — for the reasons of our culture’s intense homophobia and biphobia — have stirred up these rumors to hurt Lisa, even if they’re unfamiliar with his body of work.
Anyway, Lisa says that she and Harry share “a great deal of trust” in their nearly 29 years of marriage.
“I would be shocked if I ever found out he was having an affair,” she affirms in the book.