Interview: Lisa Rinna
“My girls think I am the kookiest mother.”
by Mary Ann Cooper
June 9, 2009
Lisa Rinna and her trademark luscious lips burst on the Hollywood scene in 1992 when she joined the cast of
Days of Our Lives — the same year she met the love of her life, actor and one of
People magazine's sexiest men alive, Harry Hamlin. But it would take five more years for Lisa and Harry to make a lasting love connection and marry. By that time Lisa was starring on
Melrose Place.
Since then, Lisa has gone on to host her own talk show, work the red carpet as a TV Guide Network correspondent, and of course, wow audiences on
Dancing With the Stars. Somewhere in there, she's found time to create a line of dance-themed exercise DVDs (Lisa Rinna Dance Body Beautiful) and operate the boutique Belle Gray (with husband Harry). But both Harry and Lisa would readily agree that their best collaborations have resulted in the birth of their two daughters, Delilah Belle
(born in 1998) and Amelia Gray (born in 2001).
Lisa spoke with Babble about her new book,
Rinnavation: Getting Your Best Life Ever, revealing her best-kept secrets about everything from parenting and postpartum depression to how cosmetic surgery improved her life. —
Mary Ann Cooper
"I am a sponge when it comes to parenting advice."With the kind of busy life you lead, why put the time and energy into writing a book? What's the inspiration for it and the meaning of the title?
Well, the book really came about after Dancing With the Stars, and I felt like if I could experience that and get through that, I could do anything. So, the idea of a book came along and I thought, 'oh great!' At first, the publisher wanted to do
a diet and fitness book because of my body transformation after the show. But as I started writing the book I was bored with that. I had so much more to say than just about diet and fitness so it morphed into renovation and renaissance and renovating your
life, and then of course we threw Rinna in the title and it came out that way. It's really about reinventing and renovating your life inside and out.
So let's go back to the beginning. You write that your mother survived being attacked and left for dead by a serial killer and your dad had to deal with the loss of his 21-year-old daughter (from a previous marriage) from a drug and alcohol overdose.
Everything you experience becomes part of the product of what you end up being. That's why I thought it was really important to include parts of their story in the book, because those are the two people who raised me. And I guarantee you that my strength
and my drive must come from them. I became a natural survivor because of what they went though. And I learned to persevere.
So are you like your mother or your father when it comes to parenting techniques and skills?
I don't think I'm like either one of them. Although I do catch myself saying things my mom or my dad has said. But I do think I am my own parent. I am sort of like a sponge when it comes to parenting advice. I try to keep my eyes wide open because I think
you can take from everyone. There's no book that tells you how to be a parent. So I am always looking for what looks right to me and what feels right for me. I like to improvise. My girls think I am the kookiest mother because I don't look or act like most
moms.
About the Author
|
|
Related Articles
|
|
Mary Ann Cooper is a freelance entertainment journalist living in New Jersey with her husband, Gary. Her work regularly appears in GRAND Magazine. She can be found online at www.maryanncooper.net |
|
|
-
by Gwynne Watkins
Kiddie lit's prince of darkness has created the perfect shower gift.
-
by Ada Calhoun
On Supernanny, breastfeeding and her Beach Boy father.
-
by Tammy La Gorce
The singer on his Haitian childhood and suburban dadhood.
|
