Exclusive Interview! Lisa Rinna

Some days blogging can never be more fun – who can beat chatting with Lisa Rinna on your cell?! Girl’s got major projects going (Playboy, dance DVD and a self-help book), and she spilled to I Heart Heels on all the exclusive deets. Being fit has always come natural to Lisa, thanks to good genes. But, wow! Did you see her on Dancing with the Stars the other night? She’s been looking a-mazing. She tells me that “after two children, I needed something to jump-start my figure, and Dancing did that.” Dancing also inspired her workout DVDs – and the latest of four Lisa Rinna Dance Body Beautiful: Ballroom Body Blast was just released last month ($14.98).

The DVDs, in fact, were created to show viewers just how much fun dancing can be, and Lisa collaborated on them with her choreographer from the show, Louis van Amstel (although you don’t even have to have a partner for the four dance workouts on it!).

This month, you won’t just catch Lisa dancing, you’ll also catch her posing. Yep, that’s right. Lisa posed pregnant for Playboy in 1998, and she’s come full circle at 45 posing again for renowned photographer Deborah Anderson who had been helping her shoot for her new book (more on that later) at the time. Lisa describes the photography as “quite stunning,” “really empowering” and says she was “really pleased” with how it all turned out. But, although she never says never, she tells me she is not planning to do it again.

Of course, during the interview, I had to throw in a few fashion and beauty questions. And to my surprise (I totally thought she was a heels person, all the way, but credit her for honesty!), Lisa claims she wears Converse tennis shoes and Havaiana flip-flops most of the time. Lisa knows her fashion, too, as host of TV Guide‘s red carpet coverage and owner of west coast, celeb-fav shop, Belle Gray. Her fashion obsessions of the moment? Genetic straight-leg jeans (“I love the fit and wear them every day!”), anything Rebecca Taylor (“I love her sweaters and the femininity of her style.”) and James Perse V-neck tees. She also can’t get enough of Kate Somerville’s products. In fact, she met Kate for the first time at the airport, went in for a facial days later and immediately became addicted. “It changed my skin.” Lisa says of her once acne-prone skin. “Now, I use it religiously.”

So next on Lisa’s schedule? Her new book Rinnavation: Getting Your Best Life Ever ($26) comes out next week – May 19. And she was so excited to talk about it because it’s taken three years to finalize. The book morphed from a pure diet and exercise book into a semi-autobiography self-help book with secrets on everything from fashion & beauty to spirituality and motherhood. She calls the book “very inspiring,” “freeing” and “cathartic” as it discusses her journey of how she’s suffered and how she overcame her sufferings. For instance, did you know she grew up in a town where she was one of the darkest skinned? “I was teased like you would not believe – horribly teased as a child.” It’s these things that shaped her life and then, this book. Even during the writing process, she learned more about herself. “I’m the one who has to do it,” she says. “You find it yourself and create everything that happens to you.” Next week, you can find the book at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and most major booksellers.

P.S. I also asked Lisa about her Mother’s Day weekend full of doughnuts, chocolate cake and sticky buns (and she laughed!). Know what she said? “I’m known for not saying no! When I’m with my kids, it’s important for me to show them it’s ok to have sticky buns. I never use the word “fat” or “diet” or “skinny” because I want my girls to know you can look great and eat.” Then, she reminds me she gets back out there after those sticky buns and starts dancing again – sigh, we knew it wasn’t that easy.

Don’t Forget! You can follow Lisa on Twitter @lisarinna and check our her own blog here.