Burying the hatchet. Laguna Beach: The Real O.C. alums Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari had one of the most famous feuds of the early 2000s — but it may have all been made for TV.
“We had an issue with each other, but it had been squashed [by the time filming started],” the Little Market founder said while speaking with Cavallari and her cohost and former Laguna Beach costar, Stephen Colletti on their “Back to the Beach” podcast in November 2022. “I think what happened is [producers] kind of saw this as, like, a starting point. And then they ran with it.”
Conrad continued: “I mean, I don’t think we were, like, best friends. But we were like, ‘It’s fine.'”
The Very Cavallari alum agreed, adding that the Laguna Beach producers decided to play up the tension between her and Conrad. “My take on it is, you and I never really had any beef,” she explained. “Really. I mean, obviously there was, like, a little truth to what happened with the three of us. But I felt like MTV coming kept it alive and made it way worse than it ever would have been.”
During the first season of the MTV reality show, Cavallari and the L.A. Candy author frequently butted heads over their love triangle with Colletti. “I think one of my takeaways from looking back [at the show] is I’m like, ‘[Kristin and Stephen are] really sweet [together].’ You guys were in love and you had a relationship,” Conrad said on “Back to the Beach,” adding, “Who wasn’t cheering for that [relationship]?”
Colletti, for his part, said he thought the show’s editing viewers’ perspective of the situation. “It’s completely tilted, because you’re the narrator,” he told Conrad. “And we’re wild and it’s this hurricane. And, sweet Lauren, you guys need to root for her.”
The One Tree Hill alum has previously opened up about how rewatching Laguna Beach made him upset at the way his relationship with the Uncommon James founder was portrayed onscreen. “I had a huge problem with this because look, obviously they created this show around this love triangle and there’s moments where you and I were broken up and they had learned about Lauren and I hooking up and being very good friends,” Colletti said during an August 2022 episode of “Back to the Beach.”
He continued: “And, you know, obviously, stuff happened at certain times. but at no point ever whenever we were together, you know, would I step out on you in that way. And they really paint [it like] that’s what I’m doing throughout the show — which I have a huge problem with.”
At the time, though, the former MTV VJ did admit that the show’s editors were “genius” for the way they crafted the drama between him, Conrad and Cavallari. “You have to hand it to them, they really crafted this storyline in a way that I think that’s what made audiences really engaged,” he said.”
Keep scrolling to relive all of Conrad and Cavallari’s ups and downs through the years:
Laguna Beach premiered on MTV in September 2004. Much of the first season followed the love triangle between Conrad and Colletti and his girlfriend, Cavallari, who was a year younger than them Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock; Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
One month after the premiere, the show's infamous spring break episode aired, which centered on a post-split fight between the Everyone Is Doing Great star and Cavallari, who decided to hook up with someone else. The tension escalated to the point where both Colletti and Conrad called her a "slut" — which the fashion designer now greatly regrets. "I'm so sorry," Conrad told her former costar on her podcast in November 2022. "I couldn't believe I did that. Because I think where I'm at now, like, I would never call another woman that. ... It was, for me, like, the most embarrassing moment. I was like, 'Oh, gross.'" Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock; Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
The Laguna Beach spinoff The Hills premiered on MTV two years after the original show blew up. The new series centered on Conrad, who moved to Los Angeles to study at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. Mtv/Kobal/Shutterstock
The Beauty Department cofounder left The Hills in the middle of the show's fifth season and was replaced by Cavallari. Her final appearance on the series took place at costars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag's wedding, where Cavallari caught the bouquet. Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock; Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
"I saw her at the [Hills] wrap party on Saturday and we caught up," Cavallari told Us Weekly about her former costar. "We are not going to lunch together and I don’t have her phone number, but we are cool." Sipa/Shutterstock; Henry Lamb/Photowire/BEI/Shutterstock
Two years later, Conrad told Us that although they had set their differences aside, they weren't close. “I don’t talk to Kristin anymore," she said in September 2012. Admedia/Sipa/Shutterstock; Broadimage/Shutterstock
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the True Comfort author confessed that a lot of the storylines on The Hills were scripted, but that she and Conrad did have genuine animosity toward one another. "I feel like [producers] put things in our heads," Cavallari said at the time. "I mean, we were 17 and 18. They made it a lot worse than it was." Broadimage/Shutterstock
Us confirmed that neither Conrad nor Cavallari would return to reality TV for the Hills spinoff, The Hills: New Beginnings, which premiered the following year. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Rob Latour/Shutterstock
The Balancing in Heels author explained during a Laguna Beach reunion that a lot of her feud with Conrad was fabricated through editing. “There was one time that they had me walking down the street and they had a producer on the other side of the street and they were like, ‘Just look at her,’” she recalled. “And she’s, like, giving me these dirty faces so I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, look at her!’ And of course, they made it seem like I was looking at Lauren being like, ‘Oh, my God!’” Cavallari continued: “We had no idea what was going on. Now, ... we get it. We know how reality TV works, so it would be totally different now. But I think, to your point, that’s what made it what it was." That same month, the mother of three told Entertainment Tonight that the pair had completely moved on from their feud. "So much time has passed and what we went through was so silly and it was so high school that I'm pretty sure we're both over it at this point," she revealed. Jordan Strauss/AP/Shutterstock
The "Asking for a Friend" podcast host and Cavallari officially buried the hatchet during an episode of the "Back to the Beach" podcast. "I just want everyone to know, we've had a handful of really great times together," Cavallari said. Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock; Rob Latour/Shutterstock
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