‘I’m Freer And More Confident And More Passionate Than I’ve Ever Been’

In a new cover story for Cosmopolitan, the 60-year-old actress posed topless, a symbol of a confidence she said she didn’t feel fully until stepping into this new era of her life.

“I’ve gotten to that place where at 60, I am so much more confident than I was at 30. I love this age because I’m freer and more confident and more passionate than I’ve ever been,” Rinna gushed.

For the soap star turned reality mainstay, age is just a number, with Rinna telling Cosmo she doesn’t feel close to her actual age.

“I don’t feel like I’m 60, and Harry doesn’t feel like he’s 72. So it’s just the number comes up, and you’re like, ‘Oh, f–k.’ And that’s what I’m always going to fight against,” she explained. “I’ve thought a lot about it, because I just turned 60 in July, and there’s this whole thing about aging gracefully. And I’m like, ‘F–k it. I’m going to age disgracefully.’ I’m not going to buy into any notion that this, this, and this happens when you turn 60. I’m just going to fight it all the way, because I want to do it my way.”

While she has every intention to age “disgracefully,” the Days of Our Lives star’s strategy when it comes to growing older is all about living in the moment.

“It is very difficult, but I think that’s the key to it all. Because when I’m 75 and I’m living in the moment, I may be perfectly fine with it. I don’t know what that is going to be, and I can’t look ahead. I know that it’s very hard in our society, the way that women are perceived and the way that aging is perceived,” The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum said. “I don’t think anybody is like, ‘Oh, this is great, and this is just going to be so much fun, and everyone is just going to be so lovely and accepting,’ because that is just not the case.”

She added. “And especially if you’re still in the workplace like we are, it’s like, ‘S–t.’ I mean, when I turned 40, it was hard to get a job as an actor. So I’ve been manipulating and managing this for 20 years already.”

Rinna doesn’t care what anyone else thinks about it either, telling the outlet, “I just don’t give a sh–t about what people think about me, and that has been a tremendous gift that I have learned. Everything that I’ve gone through has brought me to this point where I do not f—ing care what anybody thinks about me.”

She continued, “I don’t need your approval. I don’t need you to tell me whether I’m good, bad, ugly, cute, whatever. I’m going to do whatever I feel to make me happy. So yeah, a couple glasses of wine, if you need it, great. But for me, it’s more internal, that I’m going to do something because I want to do it, and I don’t give a s–t what anyone thinks about it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Rinna also discussed her headline-making departure from RHOBH and the show’s decision to air her resignation letter during the season 13 premiere.

“I had no idea. Nobody gave me a heads-up. I mean, a week before it aired, somebody sent it to me because Bravo had sent out a preview of the episode. So I thought, ‘Wow, look at that.’ Because, of course, everyone thought I’d been fired,” Rinna said of Bravo shutting down rumors that she had been fired by sharing her email on air. “But no, I made that decision. I sent text messages to the rest of the people. I sent an email to the head of Bravo, but I sent text messages to everybody else. It was the right decision to make, at the time, absolutely the right decision. And this show has a way of always coming around and them showing that was a moment of them coming around and doing the right thing, I think.”

And like her much approach to aging and her public persona, Rinna’s decision to leave the series after eight seasons is one that comes without regret.

“People think that maybe I do, but no, I didn’t regret it when I sent the letter, and I haven’t regretted it since…,” she said. “That was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made to go do that show. I mean, that show brought me so many positives. It was a great thing for me to do at the time, absolutely great. And it was the right time for me to go.”

“I think it served its purpose for both of us, for me and for Bravo. Absolutely,” Rinna added.