Here's Where Lisa Rinna and Sutton Stracke Stand After Their Elton John Gala Drama
RHOBH's Sutton Stracke clarifies why she brought up the story on WWHL in the first place.
Sutton Stracke is addressing her recent comments about Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin's attendance at one of Elton John's past galas.
During her September 22 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (clip above), Sutton claimed that Lisa and Harry attended one of Elton's galas as her guests a few years ago and never thanked her. Lisa later refuted Sutton's claims in her Instagram Stories while that episode of WWHL was still airing. "We didn't come as your guests @suttonstracke. @eltonjohn invited us to his event, you asked us to sit at your table. So we did," she wrote. "Let's just make that clear."
Lisa added that she and Harry have "gone to the fabulous Elton John Oscar party for years" and recalled "dancing the night away" in 2006 while she was on Dancing with the Stars at the time.
Sutton responded on WWHL, saying that she disagreed with Lisa's statement and that she had bought the table where they all sat that night. "Perhaps they do not know that I actually bought those tickets for them," Sutton said. "So maybe that's a miscommunication."
Looking back on it all in an interview with Us Weekly on September 24, Sutton said that she was surprised by what transpired with Lisa after she made those comments on WWHL. “I didn’t know it was going to blow up like this,” Sutton said. “I don’t know — the things I say sometimes get [me] into trouble.”
Sutton said that she felt like "Lisa was missing my point" about why she brought up the story about the gala in the first place, which she mentioned on WWHL as they discussed Lisa wanting more of a thank you from Garcelle Beauvais for bringing her Harry's sauce. “My point was really that it doesn’t matter — when you’re friends, it doesn’t matter if you get a thank you note or not,” Sutton explained. “Maybe Elton John did send her an invitation, but I paid for her seats.”
“That’s it. It’s no big deal," Sutton continued. "I’m not mad at her for not sending me a thank you note."
Lisa further commented on the situation in a post on Instagram on September 23 that has since been deleted in which she shared a throwback photo of herself and Harry from the 27th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party in 2019. "Guests of Elton, not Sutton. But I love that Sutton bought a table, and all of the money went to the @eltonjohn aids foundation. That’s a good thing!" Lisa captioned the post. "I loved this look!"
Sutton told Us Weekly that she did see Lisa's Instagram post and that she had reached out in an effort to ease any tension. "I sent her a text just, like, you know, ‘It’s not a big deal,’" Sutton said.
Despite everything that happened as a result of her WWHL appearance, Sutton said on Instagram that she had "such a blast" being back in the Bravo Clubhouse with her fellow guest, filmmaker Justin Simien. "Thank you [Andy Cohen] for having me," Sutton wrote on Instagram on September 24. "And I made a new friend @justin_simien - trouble!!! See you next time you’re in LA for more directorial film lessons."
Want more RHOBH? New episodes air every Wednesday at 8/7c.