Lisa Rinna has revealed that her late father, Frank Rinna, died in 2016 by assisted suicide.
via: People
On the March 28 episode of her and husband Harry Hamlin’s Let’s Not Talk About the Husband, Rinna, 61, revealed that her father Frank died by assisted suicide in 2016. He was 94.
Hamlin, 73, said that Frank’s “quality of life had diminished” to the point that he wanted to die, and in Oregon, “you’re permitted to check out when you want to check out” due to the Death with Dignity Act.
“When they set their mind to this, they’re ready,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum said, adding that her dad “was in pain” and “really unhappy” with his life.
Still, Rinna felt torn about her father’s decision. “You want to support your loved ones. You want to support what they want to do, but you're going to watch your parent kill themselves,” she said.
However, Rinna said her dad “wanted it so badly” and her mom “signed off on it,” so she and her half-sister accepted his choice.
Rinna went on to explain that the assisted suicide process took three to six months and required her dad to have two doctors sign off on his terminal illness, which they did. She also said the assisted suicide took place in a “hospice situation” with a “death doula” and required Frank to drink “the juice, or whatever” that would end his life.
“You can’t administer it to somebody,” Rinna explained, as Hamlin clarified, “It has to be a willful act on their part.”
According to Rinna, Frank was eager to die. “The pills were supposed to come on a Tuesday — so when they set their mind to this, they're ready — so they didn't come till Thursday,” the reality star shared. “And my dad was so mad that the pills didn't come.”
Once the pills came, Rinna and her half-sister helped administer them to Frank. They set the scene by playing Frank Sinatra, which Hamlin said his father-in-law “loved."
“It was like two o'clock in the afternoon, the light was coming in, there's a lot of real beauty behind it,” Rinna said. “We were playing some beautiful, also some yoga type beautiful music. But then, you mix it in the orange juice. It tastes like s---. It's sour. But he's got to drink it down. So you hand it to him and he drank it.”
However, Rinna said there’s a part that "nobody tells you and you don't expect” about assisted suicide. “It doesn't happen right away,” she said. “It took 45 minutes.”
From there, Rinna said “they just fall asleep” and “it's not anything gruesome.” The death doula also had morphine on hand in case they needed a backup plan.
The mom of two said the whole experience felt “trippy.” She added, “Almost so surreal that it didn't, I didn't feel like I was in my body."
As a result, Rinna she neglected to talk about her father’s assisted suicide publicly when it all went down.
“I had started the show," she said, referring to RHOBH, "and I think it was just too painful at the time."
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
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