Lisa Rinna makes some shocking claims about one of her Days of Our Lives co-stars in her new memoir, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It.
In the book, the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 62, writes about her time working on the 1990s soap opera and singles out the one co-star she claims made her life “a living hell.”
Rinna, who played Billie Reed, recalled receiving the Newcomer of the Year award at the Soap Opera Digest Awards and thanking her on-screen love interest, Robert Kelker-Kelly, “even though behind the scenes we hated each other.”
“There’s a very fine line between love and hate, and our disgust for each other made for fiery chemistry on-screen,” she wrote.
After mentioning the infamous RHOBH moment when her co-star Kathy Hilton deemed Rinna the “biggest bully in Hollywood,” the actor continued, “I’ve been working in showbiz since I was 24 years old, and I have legit stories about the real bullies in this town. Robert Kelker-Kelly was one of those bullies.
Lisa Rinna and Robert Kelker-Kelly played love interests on ‘Days of Our Lives’ in the 1990s (Peacock)
“He was horrible to me, and I’d go so far as to say verbally abusive. He was passive-aggressive and manipulative and played weird mind games,” she alleged of Kelker-Kelly, who played Bo Brady. “It was the craziest s*** I’ve ever experienced with a costar.”
Kelker-Kelly did not have an immediately available representative for comment.
Rinna recalled having to film love scenes with Kelker-Kelly while “half naked” and claimed she was given the “silent treatment” by her co-star “if I didn’t do what he wanted.”
“My theory is he was attracted to me, and when I wasn’t available to him, it made him snap. He was a ticking time bomb,” Rinna continued. “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.
“I regret that I never stood up to Robert because I was too young, and I was not willing to make waves at my new awesome job.”
Rinna also claimed that she wasn’t the only cast member on Days of Our Lives to struggle with Kelker-Kelly.
“Suddenly one day he disappeared from the Days set and next thing I knew Kristian [Alfonso] and I had our own full-time security detail,” she wrote. “I wasn’t worried about physical harm but NBC had to cover their ass. We had rent-a-cops parked outside our houses and trailers for three weeks and were driven to and from work.”
Lisa Rinna has revealed the celebrity she believes is the ‘biggest bully in Hollywood’ (Getty Images)
The Independent has contacted NBC for comment.
Both Rinna and Kelker-Kelly left the soap in 1995, though Rinna has returned on multiple occasions.
Kelker-Kelly was replaced by Peter Reckell, who previously played Bo Brady, on Days of Our Lives. He later appeared on Another World and Port Charles. His last appearance listed on IMDB is General Hospital in 2014.
Rinna previously addressed her relationship with Kelker-Kelly, telling Bravo in 2015: “I hated Robert Kelker-Kelly, hated him with a passion. He hated me with a passion.
“We were a volatile combination, and it looked like love and sexual chemistry on camera, so that was some darn good acting right there.”