Harry Hamlin Just Used a Popular Parenting Term to Describe His Marriage to Lisa Rinna, and It Makes So Much Sense
The actor weighed in on what makes his marriage to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills beauty work.
Who likes to be micromanaged? No one does! That's one reason why Harry Hamlin's marriage works, if you ask him. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband recently spoke to Us Weekly about what has made his marriage to Lisa Rinna tick for 22 years, and it has to do with one thing the couple does not do:
"We have a very functional relationship and we respect each other and listen to each other and admire each other and we let each other be," he said. "We’re not helicopter husband and wife." In case you didn't catch the reference, Harry is riffing on the term "helicopter parenting."
The phrase was coined in about 1990 by child development researchers Foster Cline and Jim Fay, who observed that some parents tend to hover over their children the way a search helicopter might, instead of allowing their kids to grow up more independently. Naturally, it's thought that there are some downsides to this style of parenting, including causing the kids to feel more dependent.
It makes sense that Lisa and Harry give each other breathing room, especially because they don't have entirely similar interests. "I have no idea why opposites attract but we are completely and utterly opposite. But I love to cook and she doesn’t, so we all get fed as a result of that. I have no interest in pop culture and she does so whatever I know about pop culture I get from her," Harry told Us Weekly. "We're a good team."
It looks like the third time's a charm for the former Mad Men actor. "This is my third time at it, but it wasn’t … the two times before that it disappeared, the marriages disappeared was not for lack of trying on my part," he shared. Oh well. Nicollette Sheridan's loss, Lisa's gain!
