Here's Why Days of Our Lives alum Lisa Rinna felt bad for taking on a recast role

Lisa Rinna played Days of Our Lives’ beloved ISA agent Billie Reed off and on from 1992 to 2018. She’s also starred on Bravo's reality TV show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and has been in many other TV series, including Veronica Mars and Melrose Place, where she was a recast for the character Taylor McBride, which had previously been played by Hunter Tylo. Now, she’s opened up about how taking over for Tylo left her feeling very uneasy.

There was a lawsuit

According to People, Hunter Tylo was first cast in the role but was unceremoniously fired after she told the powers that be that she was pregnant. Along came Rinna, who told the outlet that she never actually had to audition for the part. She stated, “And so if you remember, they felt that this character of Taylor McBride would not be — it wouldn't behoove them to cast a pregnant woman. Cut to, of course, the lawsuit that she filed.”

Ironically, during Tylo’s trial, both Rinna and Melrose Place co-star Heather Locklear (Amanda) were called in as witnesses, and were both pregnant. The Days of Our Lives alum noted, “We had to go and testify on the side of [creator Aaron] Spelling — you know, we were subpoenaed. And I'll just never forget — I don't even know if they knew I was pregnant. Heather was much more.”

Magic was involved

Rinna, however, never felt right for taking the part from Tylo because of the circumstances surrounding the actress being let go. She explained that any time someone takes over a part when the previous actor is let go for various reasons, “It never really feels 100 [percent] good.” The Days of Our Lives alum further elaborated that getting the part was a huge break for her career, but lamented that, “I got it under circumstances that didn't feel clean. And I didn't audition for it.”

She stated that the reason she didn’t have to audition for Melrose Place was because she had a manager who “worked magic,” and she suddenly was on the show.

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The outlet also reported in 2019 that former Days of Our Lives star Rinna almost started her own lawsuit against RHOBH co-star Lisa Vanderpump, over a spinoff series that was supposed to focus on the pet foundation, Vanderpump Dogs. Rinna felt that a spinoff show that was based on things that happened on the main one should compensate the RHOBH actors who helped create the narrative. Rinna simply didn’t want to see Vanderpump reaping financial rewards from something that she and the others contributed to. Ultimately, the lawsuit never came to fruition.

Days of Our Lives can be found on the Peacock app.

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