Even if you don’t watch her on TV, you know Kristin Cavallari, 23, reality star and actress, best known for her appearances in the MTV series “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” and its spin-off, “The Hills.” She’s regularly seen in fashion magazines and celebrity blogs carrying the latest Alexander Wang bag, hosting pool parties in Las Vegas wearing barely there bikinis, or being stalked by paparazzi on the streets of Los Angeles while, say, shopping, walking, talking and breathing.
With an average of 2 million viewers a week and lauded as one of the network’s highest-rated programs ever, “The Hills” and its stars are larger than life, as fans continue to follow the cast even after cameras stop rolling. MTV created a vehicle that’s defined a generation, and, of all the pioneers of the reality star-turned-superstar genre, Cavallari is its leading lady.
But now that the show is coming to an end, it’s important for Cavallari to wrap the series on a high note. “It’s getting kind of sad,” she says. “We’re all having a great time, and everyone’s coming together and just enjoying the last few days of shooting. We’ve become like family.”
Currently in its sixth and final season, the reality show that follows the daily lives of Cavallari and her fellow privileged twentysomething co-stars has rarely held such sentiment. Plagued by perpetual love triangles, drug scandals and backstabbing drama, Cavallari and her castmates have held a presence both onscreen and off since the cultural phenomenon known as “Laguna Beach” began six years ago. But the road from Orange County, Calif., to Hollywood didn’t come without its bumps, as Cavallari also has found herself entrapped–on more than one occasion–by the very network that launched her into stardom.
Born in Denver, Cavallari moved to Laguna Beach, a posh seaside community in Orange County, before high school, and was in her junior year when production of “Laguna Beach” began. “MTV found us in school, and kind of came in and shook things up and messed with our lives,” she reveals. “That really affected me in a negative way, emotionally screwed with my head a bit. So I had to step away.”
However, Cavallari proved her staying power even when she tried to avoid it most. The impression she left on America resonated in celebrity media for three years until May 2009, when she joined the cast of “The Hills” in its fifth season. Replacing onetime rival Lauren Conrad as the narrator, Cavallari was poised to take her place as series star, but, this time, she’d play the very game that MTV had used on her: To come in and shake things up a bit. “When I decided to join the cast, I looked at it only as my job,” she explains. “I had a completely different perspective on things.”
Recently nabbing a Teen Choice Award nomination for favorite female reality star, Cavallari has emerged more self-assured than ever. She doesn’t take it too seriously, says what she wants and is willing to play up her part as the “bitch” to create drama that doesn’t even exist. “When you get to know me, I’m opposite of who you see on ‘The Hills,’” she affirms. But for $90,000 an episode, it’s an easy role for her to play.
Despite being billed and formatted as a reality series, it’s widely known that scripting is used for production purposes on “The Hills,” which is just fine by Cavallari. “I have a private life that’s very separate from what you see on TV,” she says. “It gets complicated when you mix the two. People start to lose all sense of reality; they don’t know what’s real and what’s not real anymore.”
Case in point: Speidi. “Fame does become addicting, and Spencer [Pratt] and Heidi [Montag] are the perfect example of people who can’t handle it,” Cavallari proclaims. “It breaks my heart, but they got caught up in all of the hype. Hollywood’s a fake world and a lot of people get lost in it. I’ve had my moments.”
“The Hills” have eyes, and so do the paparazzi, to catch these moments. Their obsession with Cavallari and her co-stars is intrusive, ubiquitous and, at times, utterly fictitious. “Honestly, there’s a lot of stuff you read about yourself and you’re, like, ‘Where did they get this info?’” she laments. “But it’s the nature of the business. If you don’t ignore it, you’ll lose your mind.”
Gossip has always been an integral element of the show’s story line, but when it negatively impacts the stars’ real lives, it crosses the line. This season, when Cavallari and company headed to Miami for Super Bowl weekend, her partying led to rumors of alleged drug use.
“That was one of the worst things to happen to me,” she conveys. “It was all MTV’s fault, and there’s no way around that.” Featured on the cover of Us Weekly the very week the show premiered with wild tales of her antics ultimately made her stronger–and wiser–but the pitfalls of fame were front and center.
“Thankfully, it’s died down, but it was like a slap in my face. MTV didn’t have my back, and I felt like I had no control; I felt abused,” Cavallari divulges. “It made me question everybody in my life and whom I could trust. It was rough, but I’m fine now, and that’s all that matters.”
Rumors and distrust are already issues for the reality star, but then you factor in another element: dating. “You never really know what anyone’s motives are,” Cavallari says. “If someone wants to be on ‘The Hills,’ that’s a red flag.”
It’s been two and a half years since Cavallari’s been in a serious relationship (with actor and JEZ cover model Nick Zano), and, no, a scripted affair with Justin “Justin Bobby” Brescia and a “Hills”-style fling with real-life ex Brody Jenner do not count. “I’m dating, but nothing serious,” she confides. “I think I’m ready for a relationship.”
With “The Hills” coming to an end, you’d think Cavallari would have more time to focus on her love life, but the ambitious beauty has a lot in store for her adoring fans–and media–once the show wraps. “I’m working on three reality shows, producing two of them and possibly working on camera for the other,” she reveals. “I really want to produce.”
Acting is another passion of Cavallari’s, and, luckily, she’s been polishing her chops with MTV for years. “I just had my first audition in a while,” she says. “I enjoyed working on the script, and getting out there got me really excited about it again.”
But it’ll all have to wait until she gets back. “I recently decided that I’m going to take some time off for a nice, relaxing vacation once ‘The Hills’ ends,” she says. “I’m thinking the south of France.”
Of course, no matter where she goes, we’ll be sure to read all about it in Us Weekly.