Lisa Rinna announces she's leaving Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Lisa Rinna has confirmed that she will be leaving Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after eight seasons.

The news comes following a rocky season for Lisa between the loss of her mother Lois, and her feud with co-star Kathy Hilton, which sparked enormous controversy among fans.

Announcing the news this week, Lisa, 59, said to PEOPLE in a statement: "This is the longest job I have held in my 35 year career and I am grateful to everyone at Bravo and all those involved in the series.

"It has been a fun eight-year run and I am excited for what is to come."

The Days of Our Lives actor had come to the end of her contract with Bravo after last season, after which, Lisa and Bravo came to the mutual decision that she would not return to RHOBH.

Lisa hit the ground running when she joined the hit reality series in 2014 for its fifth season, and quickly became one of the show's best-known stars after a sensationally dramatic fight with former series star Kim Richards.

It all came to a head during the girls' trip to Amsterdam, when Kim hinted that she knew something about Lisa's husband Harry Hamlin, which prompted Lisa to reach for Kim's throat, throw a glass of wine in her face, and promptly smash the glass on the table.

It was a memorable season, to say the least.

Lisa also fell out with former co-star Yolanda Hadid - the mum of Bella, Gigi, and Anwar Hadid - who was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2012.

Lisa sparked fury in season six when she suggested that Yolanda didn't have Lyme disease at all, but rather Munchausen's syndrome. Describing the illness to her co-stars, she read: "Those affected feign disease... to draw attention, sympathy, or reassurance to themselves."

Perhaps most shocking of all was Lisa Rinna's fall-out with her friend of 20 years Denise Richards.

Denise joined the show in season nine, and from the get-go, the pair were thick as thieves.

But things got messy when former RHOBH star Brandi Glanville alleged to her co-stars that she and Denise had had an affair.

Denise outright denied the claims, but a few of her co-stars, including Lisa, didn't believe her.

Most recently, Lisa has made an enemy out of Kathy Hilton - the sister of Kyle and Kim Richards and the mum of Paris Hilton.

In season 12 of the reality series, Kathy went as far as to call Lisa 'the biggest bully in Hollywood.'

Not long before the season aired, reports surfaced that the housewives girls trip to Aspen had turned sour due to an alleged fight between Kathy and Kyle, witnessed only by Lisa.

Although the alleged feud never aired on TV, Lisa Rinna and her on-screen bestie Erika Girardi have spoken at length about it on social media.

Despite creating somewhat of a villain status for herself over the years, it never seemed to both Lisa that so many Housewives fans had it out for her.

"I'm like a wrestler", she told People last year. "The wrestlers get booed. The most famous wrestlers in the world get booed. The Rock got booed for God's sake. I loved it."