Lisa Rinna says she had fentanyl in her system after a night at The Abbey in West Hollywood. The Abbey is pushing back, says its cameras show nothing.
Rinna confirmed Thursday on Good Day New York that she tested positive for fentanyl after a night at The Abbey in West Hollywood — the same venue where WEHOonline first reported Tuesday she believed she had been drugged during The Traitors Season 4 premiere party on January 8. Sitting down with anchors Rosanna Scotto and Jerry O’Connell, she said the results also showed high levels of amphetamines and other substances. The findings were leaked before she was ready to go public, and her team is still actively dealing with the situation.
“I had fentanyl in my system,” Rinna told Scotto. “I’m not kidding. I had fentanyl, high levels of amphetamines and other things, but I can’t talk a lot about it because we’re still dealing with it.”
She wouldn’t name a suspect but didn’t leave much ambiguity about where it happened. “I can’t say, but it was at The Abbey in West Hollywood,” she said.
Rinna confirmed her husband Harry Hamlin was at the party and helped get her out quickly. She pushed back on anyone who assumed she’d simply been overserved. O’Connell, who said he’d personally spent time partying with Rinna including at Andy Cohen’s baby shower, vouched for her on camera. “Lisa can handle her booze,” he said. “I’ve been boozing with you, and you really handle your booze.”
“I do,” Rinna agreed. “But no I know.”
What fentanyl in a drink means
The confirmation that fentanyl was the substance changes the nature of this story considerably. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid roughly 100 times more potent than morphine and the leading driver of overdose deaths in the country for several years running. A small amount introduced into a drink can cause rapid incapacitation, slowed breathing, and death. Hamlin getting her out quickly wasn’t just good timing. It may have mattered a great deal more than that.
Rinna said she wants what happened to her to open up a larger conversation about The Abbey specifically, not just nightlife safety in general. “So many people that I know have had this happen at The Abbey,” she said. “My daughter’s friends. This is not a first time thing. This is something that’s gone on for years, and I do think it needs to be a conversation, and I’m glad now that it’s out.”
A documented history — and The Abbey’s response
The Abbey has faced drugging allegations for nearly a decade, and some of them went well beyond social media posts. In February 2023, a man named Kent Okukporo, 42, was arrested and charged with sexual battery, drugging someone with intent to commit sexual assault, and attempted kidnapping following an incident at the venue. The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station held a press conference on the arrest. The Abbey said its own security team identified Okukporo when he returned to the bar the following night.
In August 2021, a woman alleged a bartender had spiked her drink, causing her to collapse at the bar and suffer facial injuries. The Abbey denied it, reviewed its surveillance footage, and found no evidence of tampering. The bar sued her for more than $5 million, arguing the social media posts had cost the business $1 million in lost revenue. That case settled in 2024 under new ownership.
In October 2025, an undercover narcotics operation at the venue resulted in 13 arrests, with a bathroom attendant, busboy, and waiter among those taken into custody on drug and theft charges.
New owner Tristan Schukraft, who purchased The Abbey in 2024 for a reported $27 million, has publicly acknowledged the venue’s troubled history and said he’s taken steps to address it — providing free drink-testing strips, remaking any drink on request, and adding more security staff than any comparable venue in the area. The City of West Hollywood has also distributed free drink-spiking test strips to nightlife establishments through a partnership with the LA LGBT Center’s WeHo Life program.
After Rinna’s interview aired Thursday, The Abbey responded directly. In a statement provided to Variety, the venue said Rinna’s team reached out with concerns after her visit and that it conducted an internal review, pulled surveillance footage, and interviewed staff on duty. It said it found no evidence of drink tampering or suspicious behavior toward her. “We cannot speak to medical findings and do not want to speculate about toxicology results,” the statement read. “Guest safety remains our highest priority.”
The response tracks almost word for word with how The Abbey handled the 2021 allegation — a thorough internal review, surveillance footage reviewed, no evidence found. That case ended in a lawsuit against the accuser. Rinna has toxicology results. The 2021 woman did not say she did.
Skeptics and what’s actually at stake
Not everyone on social media took the story at face value. Some comments pointed to the timing — Rinna’s memoir is currently on sale — and suggested she might be using a serious allegation to drive attention to her book. It’s the kind of cynicism that follows any celebrity who speaks out about something this significant. But fentanyl doesn’t show up in a toxicology panel because someone needs a news cycle. And the pattern of incidents at The Abbey stretches back nearly a decade and involves people with no book deals and no reality television credits. Rinna’s account lands on top of an existing public record, not in a vacuum.
The more serious question isn’t about her credibility. It’s about what the law actually requires of a venue like The Abbey, and what exposure both sides are carrying right now.
What the law requires of The Abbey
California imposes specific legal duties on businesses that serve alcohol and operate as public venues. Under premises liability law, The Abbey is required to maintain reasonably safe conditions for patrons. That obligation doesn’t end at the door. It extends to foreseeable risks and a venue with The Abbey’s documented history of drugging allegations would have a very difficult time arguing in civil court that drink spiking was unforeseeable on its premises. Prior incidents, prior arrests, prior lawsuits, and prior public statements by ownership acknowledging the problem all establish what lawyers call constructive knowledge. In plain terms: they knew, or should have known, this was a risk.
California’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Act adds another layer. Licensed establishments can face suspension or revocation of their liquor license if they’re found to have permitted unlawful conduct on the premises, or if the venue becomes what regulators call a “disorderly house” which is a location that disturbs the neighborhood or is a danger to public welfare. A pattern of drugging incidents, 13 arrests on the property in October 2025, and now a high-profile celebrity alleging she was given fentanyl at a premiere party create exactly the kind of record that draws ABC scrutiny.
The venue also has obligations under California’s Dram Shop framework, though California is notably more limited in this area than many other states — the law generally doesn’t hold bars civilly liable for serving alcohol to someone who then harms a third party. But that framework doesn’t apply cleanly to drugging. When the harm comes from a controlled substance introduced into a drink without consent, the liability analysis shifts to negligent security and premises liability, where the bar is considerably lower for plaintiffs.
Rinna’s legal position and the criminal picture
Rinna hasn’t named a suspect, only a venue. Under California defamation law, truth is an absolute defense, and a toxicology result documenting fentanyl and amphetamines in her system gives her considerable grounding for what she’s said publicly. That doesn’t mean The Abbey couldn’t pursue a trade libel claim arguing her statements are damaging their business. They sued a woman in 2021 over social media posts making similar allegations, demanding more than $5 million before settling under new ownership. They’ve shown they’re willing to go that route. Comedian Justin Martindale received a cease and desist letter from The Abbey related to another allegation.
On the criminal side, California Penal Code 222 makes it a felony to administer any controlled substance to another person with the intent to commit a crime, punishable by 16 months to three years in state prison. Penal Code 347 makes it a separate felony to willfully introduce a harmful substance into someone’s food or drink knowing it could cause injury, carrying two to five years with an additional three if the substance could cause death or did cause great bodily injury. Fentanyl qualifies on both counts. If the drugging was intended to facilitate a sexual assault, Senate Bill 268 — signed into law in fall 2024 now classifies the rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person as a violent felony and a strike offense under California’s Three Strikes law, closing a loophole that had previously allowed some such cases to be prosecuted only as misdemeanors. No suspect has been identified in Rinna’s case and no charges have been filed.
Rinna said she still hasn’t fully processed what happened or decided what comes next. “I just haven’t had my own time to do that yet,” she said. The Traitors Season 4 reunion special aired Thursday, Feb. 26 on Peacock.
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This is a tricky situation, it’s good the The Abbey has cameras and can review all footage of her inside their establishment. Assuming except in the bathroom. But if the footage shows nothing out of the ordinary for her entire visit, then how were the drugs introduced into her drink/system? A bartender unknowingly serving a cocktail with spiked alcohol? Someone in the bathroom? Someone outside the bar? If I’m the bar owner/manager, what would I do differently? There clearly is a pattern of a problem at that bar, but it feels like we’re missing something here.
There goes Rinna SHAIN. Pointing fingers to people and now places – a “quickie” for her is “ACCUSATION!!!” Before time, investigation and independent qualified professionals – Like declaring a co-star on #RHBH “Already Had one foot in the grave AND family members don’t know what to do.
Rinna – Now has trouble finding acting jobs because she’s too recognizable ”
That’s called TOO OLD FOR A HALF RATE ACTRESS.
Everyone who lives in WeHo knows about the roofies…The bar holds like 2K people, they cannot be held responsible… I was usually there every Sunday afternoon…When you lean against the bar, you hold your drink…when you dance, you hold your drink, when you go to the restroom, you hold your drink… I’ve had 3 friends roofied at The Abbey, one girl and 2 guys…the girl got lucky bc when it was coming on she told her friends and they got her out of there. The guys were not so lucky. One woke up to find his apartment ransacked and the… Read more »
It’s one thing to allege drink-spiking at a bar (likely) and another to allege the bar in question is somehow part of a criminal conspiracy to spike drinks (unlikely and hard to prove). With so many cameras at the Abbey, there is very little one can do that’s not caught on film – except for in the bathrooms. I don’t doubt people have these experiences, but I doubt that the Abbey is somehow responsible for them. I just don’t see the evidence of that.
Here we go again with another spiked drink incident at The Abbey. That place is huge and is hard to keep of activity at the counters and tables. Supposedly the security cameras didn’t catch any nefarious acts. This gal was lucky her husband was with her and got her out pronto.