Kristin Cavallari stopped by Access Hollywood Live on Wednesday and dished to Billy Bush and Kit Hoover about the ghosts of her reality TV past, as well as her current boyfriend, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
“Is he the one?” Kit asked Kristin.
“I’d like to say yes,” Kristin said with a giggle.
“I love Chicago,” the blonde reality star said of her time in the city. “My mom is there — and that side of my family — so, I get to spend time with my mom who I don’t get to see that often. But it’s been great. I love the city and during the football season I was there a lot. Now, we’re both out here.”
While Kristin is happily in a relationship at present that wasn’t always the case – especially, back when MTV documented her “Laguna Beach” love triangle with Lauren Conrad and Stephen Colletti.
“What ever happened with Stephen Colletti?” Kit asked. “Do you keep in touch with that cute boy in the pick-up truck?”
“Stephen is acting,” Kristin said. “He’s on ‘One Tree Hill’ and he’s been working and staying under the radar, which, for him I think, is what he wants. I still talk to Stephen from ‘Laguna Beach’… and from ‘The Hills’ I still talk to Stephanie and Stacie, and that’s about it.”
Kristin also addressed the rumors that “The Hills” was scripted.
“‘Laguna Beach’ was definitely more real than ‘The Hills.’” Kristin said. “We only filmed ‘The Hills’ three days a week, and we did three different scenes each day and a change of clothes to film a specific scene. They were pushing it as far as they could go without an actual script… They give you a schedule like, ‘You have lunch with Heidi at 3:00 to talk about the party coming up,’ or whatever the situation may be.”
She was quick to clear up the misconceptions about “The Hills” on-air intervention plot-point during which her co-stars expressed concerns that she had a problem with drugs.
“That was really unfair,” Kristin confessed. “That wasn’t MTV, that was one producer in particular that was responsible for that, and of course, after the show aired and that came out, all the girls started talking and telling me what really happened. One producer told the girls what to say and it got as far as bribing one girl with a purse. It was really nasty stuff.
“I never had an issue whatsoever,” she continued. “I mean Us Weekly, it was like, ‘Her parents want her to go to rehab,’ and both of my parents were like, ‘Nobody called me and asked me.’”
Kristin has segued from reality to scripted television and will be appearing tonight on “The Middle” as a biology teacher. “The Middle” airs Wednesday nights on ABC.

By Sara Bibel
Kristin Cavallari burst into the spotlight at 15, when she was cast as the bad girl on MTV’s high school reality series, “Laguna Beach.” She hoped to use her celebrity to jumpstart an acting career. After a few years of small roles in small movies, she resumed her reality stardom when the producers of “The Hills” asked Cavallari to replace her “Laguna Beach” nemesis Lauren Conrad on the final season of the reality soap. Now Cavallari is attempting to prove she is more than just a tabloid darling, guest starring on ABC’s hit comedy “The Middle” (Wednesday, 8/7c) and venturing into producing. Cavallari spoke candidly about how MTV’s producers manipulated the casts of its reality shows and how she has learned to take control of her reputation and her career.
Tell me about your character on “The Middle.”
I play Mrs. Devereaux, who is Axl’s (Charlie McDermott) biology teacher. Axl’s Patricia Heaton’s son on the show. He’s in a band. They want to film a music video and they need a hot girl for it so they decide to ask their biology teacher. But when they approach me, I think that women in music videos are just put in a terrible light and say no. So they go about it a different way. They try filming me during class on their flip phones without me knowing.

Were there any funny moments when you were shooting the episode?
One scene I had to do jumping jacks because I’m the biology teacher and I’m explaining about heart rates. So I’m doing jumping jacks and the boys are filming me on their flip phone. Doing something like that in front of a whole camera crew was kind of embarrassing.
Did you audition for this part, or did the show approach you for the role?
I actually read for the casting director about a year ago for a different pilot. Then I met with all the executives at ABC. So between the casting director and the executives, they came up with this role for me.
Are you aggressively pursuing acting right now?
I’m not pursuing it aggressively. I haven’t gone out on a lot of auditions because I’m focusing on producing reality TV shows. There’s one show in particular I’m working on, but we’re about to do the press release, so I can’t tell you about it quite yet.

What inspired you to move into producing?
Well, being on a reality show for a few years, I think I know a thing or two about reality. I like being able to be in charge of everything and putting everything together. I’m working with someone I worked with before. We went out and shot a sizzle reel. We put some girls on tape for it. Then we brought it into this production company we just signed with. Now we’re developing the whole thing. I really enjoyed having a say in what happened and being behind the camera and helping out in that way. It will be nice to be out of the spotlight a little bit too, to be honest.
Now that it’s over, can you reveal how much of the final season of “The Hills” was scripted?
Almost all of it. I think I can say that by now. I guess no one can get mad at me anymore.

You were not always portrayed in the most positive light on “The Hills.” You were supposedly partying too hard and using drugs. Are you concerned that damaged your reputation?
They told me they weren’t going to do any of that stuff. Basically, all that was to get ratings. I was on the cover of Us Weekly saying I need to go to rehab and that my parents wanted me to go to rehab. Both of my parents were like, “Oh, really? Why don’t they call me.” It said that I wasn’t showering. It was so unbelievable. It came and went because obviously I didn’t have a problem whatsoever. But that really pissed me off because MTV did that and there was one producer in particular who was behind all that. So that was really, really hard actually. That was one of the hardest things I ever had to go through. I’m so over it by now. But everything else, I was a willing participant. I didn’t hang out with those people. I had all my friends that were never filmed. It was work three days a week. We’d go to work, do three scenes a day, change, do another scene, and then you leave and you have your other life, your private life.

Had you even been in touch with any of your old “Laguna Beach” castmates before the producers asked you to come spice up “The Hills”?
The only person that was still on from “Laguna Beach” was Lo [Bosworth]. But no, I hadn’t been talking to Lo. Brody [Jenner] and Frankie [Delgado] were the only ones I kept in contact with. I didn’t even know Stacie [Hall] or Stephanie [Pratt] or half the people when I joined the cast.
What do you think about Lauren Conrad’s new reality show being shelved for being too high brow or dull for MTV?
I didn’t know that was the reason why. I think right now MTV has “Jersey Shore” and “Skins” which are very controversial. Lauren’s a very nice girl. She’s very sweet, but that’s not always entertaining.

It seems like almost everyone who was on “Laguna Beach” had the course of their life altered. You, L.C. and Lo are reality stars. Some others have unfortunately struggled with substance abuse problems. Do you think it was, on the whole, worth it for all you to grow up in front of America?
I don’t regret anything I’ve done. It’s been hard. I was fifteen years old when “Laguna Beach” came in. I think it was really unfair how they messed with our lives like that. We were so young. We didn’t know exactly what they were doing. Watching the show really broke my heart. [When] the first episode of “Laguna Beach” [aired], I locked myself in the bathroom and was crying for hours because I was so upset about how they were portraying me. But that’s why going into “The Hills,” I knew exactly what I was getting into. I wasn’t going to let them mess with me. That’s why I went into it saying, “Whatever you guys want me to do, I’ll do. Don’t mess with me. I’ll be a participant.” They’re very shady with you. And that’s what they did when we were doing “Laguna Beach” and we were so young to be doing that. So it’s just how my life has gone. It’s the path that I’ve chosen. It’s all been worth it.

Can you give me an example of the producers being shady?
The first season of “The Hills” they had Justin and I dating on the show. Justin wouldn’t want to come film sometimes because he didn’t think that I really liked him. So the producers would have me text him, “No Justin, I really want you to come.” But I was game for it. Stephen [Coletti] was my boyfriend on “Laguna Beach.” They would be, like [to him], “We just want to get you coming up to Lauren’s house, but we’re not going to make it seem like you guys are dating.” They’d have him bring her flowers. All that stuff.
You recently tweeted that there was a phony rumor that you were engaged. How does it make you feel when you’re the subject of false gossip?

It’s just so stupid. I mean, I’ve heard that Jay [Cutler] and I have been engaged I think five times now. It’s one thing after another. You don’t let it get to you. If you do, you’ll drive yourself crazy. I don’t read the magazines or gossip sites. But you always hear about it from friends. Someone is always telling you stuff. We were just in Bora Bora and I landed to five different text messages from my friends [saying] “Are you engaged?” It’s kind of funny at this point.
Where do you think you would be today if MTV hadn’t decided to film a reality series at your high school?
Gosh. I really wanted to go to Emerson in Boston and study broadcast journalism. I wanted to become a news anchor or an entertainment host and work my way in that way. So, I don’t know. Hopefully I would be doing something like that.
What advice would you give to people who are auditioning for a reality show? What about someone who was just cast?

For someone auditioning, I would have to say you’ve got to be yourself because if you’re trying to be someone fake just to get attention it will come out eventually. So be yourself, but be the most dramatic self you can be. For “Laguna Beach” we had to fill out a twenty page packet. The questions were like “List your five best friends and what you hate about them.” One of the questions was, “Who do you think is going to be prom queen?’ My answer was, “I don’t know and I don’t care as long as it’s not Lauren Conrad.” Doing stuff like that gets attention. Be dramatic and play it up a little bit, but not over the top where it’s obvious you’re not being yourself whatsoever. If someone’s going to be on one, you’re going to have to get a thick skin really quickly. Don’t go on the Internet. Don’t read the gossip sites or the tabloids, because no matter what you do not everyone will like you.

By Karl Taro Greenfeld
The offices of the Paper Crown fashion line are jammed with an MTV film crew as producers walk around in headsets and speak in whispers. The second floor suite in Los Angeles' Westwood neighborhood is decorated with a zebra skin rug, an ornate table with lion's claw feet, and mannequins in half-finished gowns. Reclining on an overstuffed antique sofa is Lauren Conrad—reality TV doyenne, best-selling author, and fashion impresario—in a bright print shirt, high-waisted slacks, and high heels of her own design.
Conrad, who blasted to stardom in MTV's reality series about precocious Orange County teens, Laguna Beach, and its spin-off, The Hills, is embarking on one of the more unusual stunts in the short history of unscripted television. To cement her reputation as a businesswoman, the 24-year old is trying to distance herself from her reality TV alter ego. The chosen vehicle for this transformation? Yes, a new reality show—her third in seven years. Conrad's yet-unnamed series, which will make its debut early this year on MTV, will follow her quest to become so successful as a businesswoman that she has to eventually cancel her show. As her agent, Max Stubblefield, puts it: "Lauren's new businesses will feed on the show—which will feed on the new businesses." Conrad insists she would love "for the cameras to go away. This show is a vehicle to get there. I would love to become a big, natural brand."
Despite being famous for little more than once having been a teenager, Conrad—known as "LC" by her legions of adoring adolescent fans—may already be the millennials' answer to Martha Stewart. She's the author of four best-selling books, including Sugar & Spice, which continues the chronicle of a fictional young woman dealing with the travails of reality stardom. She's coming off a successful campaign as the exclusive spokesperson for Avon's (AVP) Mark cosmetics. Since 2006 she has had endorsement deals with toy company Hasbro (HAS), leather goods maker Linea Pelle, and AT&T (T). Her fashion line for Kohl's (KSS), LC Lauren Conrad, has been a "consistent top performer in our women's category," says Donald A. Brennan, a senior executive vice-president for the retailer. Her slightly more upscale line, the Lauren Conrad Collection, was sold in more than 500 stores before she discontinued it last year to focus on Paper Crown. She's even done her own "Got Milk?" ad.
Unlike many reality stars of her generation, Conrad's public introduction involved neither a sex tape nor a friendship with Paris Hilton. In 2004 she was cast as the star of MTV's alpha-kid show Laguna Beach and wooed fans with her estimable sanity. During five seasons of the show's sequel, The Hills, which followed her as a student at Los Angeles' Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising,Conrad maintained a nearly Churchillian composure in the face of juvenile male behavior and back-stabbing female frenemies. Her constant disappointments in love and her ability to eschew various Hollywood rites of passage—Asian symbol tattoos, collagen lip injections—made her a favored cover girl of women's magazines and a good-girl role model. "She was always going through that relationship saga of trying to find the right guy," says Adam DiVello, creator and executive producer of The Hills. "It was very Carrie Bradshaw."
All along, Conrad's ambition was to leverage her exposure into a miniature lifestyle empire. By 2009, The Hills had become MTV's most successful show, with Sopranos-esque DVD sales of 2 million, a thriving mobile streaming content business, and a deal with iTunes.
MTV also initiated a reverse product-placement scheme in which it offered clothes—similar to the styles Conrad wore on the show—for sale on its SeenON!MTV e-commerce site. That year the site produced $20 million for the network.
Conrad, who made $75,000 an episode, as first reported in In Touch Weekly, says she didn't get a penny of the ancillary revenue and left the show after the 2009 season. She says she also felt restricted by DiVello's decision to edit out the ways in which her rising stardom affected her life. And that, she says, "was a dealbreaker." As a result, her new series will function as a "weekly 30-minute commercial," she says, for the LC brand. To ensure this, Conrad is an executive producer, hoping to capitalize, as Stubblefield puts it, on "more potential upside."
She's also putting her own capital at risk. Conrad has invested "a large amount" in Paper Crown, she says, to retain complete creative control. "This is mine to lose," she says. "I've learned that when you are not your own boss, you always have to meet in the middle." As a designer, Conrad says, she's often reminded that Kohl's target customer exists in, as she puts it, the "broader market." When she was designing the Lauren Conrad Collection, "I didn't always have the final say," she admits, "because someone else was financing it." Perhaps as a result, The New Yorker referred to one of her collections as "sub-Old Navy."
Conrad describes Paper Crown, which launches this year, as "more upstairs" than her previous work. With pieces ranging from $65 to a $390 chiffon wrap dress, Conrad says she's trying to design "very chic, clean pieces that have good fit and good fabrics" to be sold at upscale boutiques. Will consumers shell out nearly $400 for a dress designed by a hopeful soon-to-be-erstwhile reality star? "I'm afraid of failure, always," says Conrad. "There's been many, many times I questioned myself." That said, given the strength of the LC brand, she hopes to see revenue from Paper Crown in about a year.
Conrad's longer-term goal, she says, is to create "my own business in replacement of the partnerships I have." It will be, she predicts, a retail fiefdom encompassing books, clothes, and beauty products. As she ticks them off, the young mogul pauses, having momentarily forgotten something. "Oh yeah," she says, "and a TV show." At least for now.

Jason Wahler summarizes his life and the road to recovery. Jason shares details from his Reality Show experiences and discusses the scripted reality of “The Hills” VS the true Reality of “Celebrity Rehab”