Wait, so her 'Teen Vogue' job was fake?!
Let’s go back, back to the beginning… oh wait, wrong show. In 2006, life was simpler. Before Kanye West ever stepped on that MTV VMA stage or the Kardashians were the rulers of reality television, there was Lauren Conrad and the cast of The Hills.
They created what was arguably one of the most successful reality shows of all time with nary a sex tape (unless you count the fake one that Speidi made up about Lauren and Jason). Ten years later, LC sat down with the producers and directors from the show for a tell-all special – The Hills: That Was Then, This Is Now – and it was very informative.
Sadly, there were no Speidi cameos, but they’re easy enough to find on any couples counseling-related reality show these days. This special was all about Lauren, who has been one of the quieter co-stars when it comes to discussing her time on the hit series.
Here were 10 surprises we learned from the special:
1. Lauren’s Parents Moved and They Have Some Flattering Wall Décor
Remember on Laguna Beach when LC’s architect dad built her that casual family mansion with one closet for her clothes and one for her shoes and purses? Well those are dunzo. In the special, Lauren rolls up to her family’s new home where her mom has framed all of her covers for some “very sweet” home art.
2.“She Literally Thought She Worked at Teen Vogue”
When Lauren was interviewing for her “job” at Teen Vogue, she was legitimately nervous. That’s because she didn’t realize that the job was rigged in her favor.
“It was cute, she was so naive,” LC’s dad, Jim, said. “When she was going for her interview for her job with Teen Vogue, she was so nervous about whether or not she was going to get the job.”
Perhaps the pretty blond named Whitney Port who was wearing the mic pack in the lobby could have tipped her off.
3.Lauren’s Parents Knew Everything That Happened Before It Aired
How would your parents feel if they saw you having drunken fights at Les Deux and inviting boys over for cuddle sessions? Lauren didn’t have to worry about that thanks to her one rule.
“Hot tip, if you’re going to be on reality television, tell your parents about it,” she said laughing.
“We have a pretty open relationship with Lauren anyway and we’re not judgmental,” Lauren’s dad said. “She was an adult.” Plus, what happens in Cabo, stays in Cabo.
4.Lauren Kicked Jason Out and Changed the Locks
When LC split with Jason Wahler, she literally kicked him out and changed her locks a few days later. After all, he was the reason she will always be the girl who didn’t go to Paris. And though their breakup aired for the world to see, there was more going on under the surface.
“What made it harder was I could see he wasn’t sober,” Lauren said of the day they filmed him leaving. “And I think that just really broke me. I felt a responsibility to take care of him and I felt like when we broke up I was abandoning him. There was a lot of nights I was getting 2 a.m. calls and I had to go pick him up passed out in a club.”
Thankfully, Jason got clean and now works at a rehab clinic. But we never found out if he kept those golf clubs…
5.Kim Kardashian Was Almost on the Show
That’s right, fresh off her adult video with ex Ray J, Kim was the hot new celeb, and it didn’t hurt that Brody Jenner was her stepbrother. In unseen footage, which aired on the special, she chatted with Heidi about her pet jellyfish and going to the VMAs. If only she would have moved in with LC and Audrina Patridge maybe it would have been Keeping Up With The Hills.
6.Audrina Installed a Lock on Her Door to Keep Lauren Out
Maybe it was karma for Jason’s lock out? When Audrina moved in with Lauren and her pal, Lo Bosworth, things were tense, to say the least. We all saw how it ended, with LC’s slow-motion mascara tear, but it began with a very simple act.
“I was going to put something in [Audrina’s pool house home], she had left something out, and I realized she had installed a lock,” Lauren said. “That’s what started our big fight and we just weren’t getting along when we were living together.” Maybe the lock was for Justin Bobby?
7.Producers Predicted What Would Happen and Wrote Stage Directions
During the special, one of the producers handed Lauren a sheet of paper in which stage directions had been written for a night out at a club. The only problem? They were written before the girls ever arrived.
“You wrote this before we got there? You know this is creepy, right?” LC tells a producer. “Like this is how we think their night’s going to be. I wish I had known.”
Lauren also addressed the not-so-secret rumors that the show was staged.
“I definitely felt set up. I was so hurt by these people that I didn’t want to be in the same room as them,” she said of Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. “They put Heidi on that boat and then they were like ‘Go, go, go, leave the dock.’ So we were trapped.”
8.William Tell Has Never Seen the Show
Two years into marriage and Lauren’s hubby, William Tell, still hasn’t seen a single episode of his wife’s hit series. The former reality star recalled one time in a hotel when her man turned on the TV and an episode was on. Naturally, it was a scene at a club and LC said something cringey.
“He just changed the channel and was like ‘Don’t wanna know that you!’” she recalled, laughing. No, William, who you really don’t want to know is Stephen Colletti.
9.Nothing Between Brody and LC Was Real
Sure, Brody Jenner was a dream boat, but the romance that the MTV producers tried to stir up between him and LC was thoroughly fake. They even played several clips of the pair repeating the same lines and kissing before Lauren begged the crew to let them stop filming the scene, calling the moment “the most awkward thing ever.”
“I definitely had a crush on Brody but the funny thing was, we had zero chemistry,” she said. “He was my friend, I enjoyed spending time with him, but it always felt forced.”
But ever the professional, LC knew that the Brody romance storyline was needed, saying, “There was so much pressure on me at that point for me to get a boyfriend or date someone who would be on camera that I just let them.”
10.Lauren’s Exit From The Hills Wasn’t Abrupt
Sure, she endured a lot while on the show, but there was no one instance that made LC drop her mascara wand and declare she was through with fake jobs and free parties.
“It was hard on my relationships. It was hard on me,” she said. “That’s when I knew it was time to go was when my heart wasn’t in it and I wasn’t living the kind of life that made me happy. I was really torn. I’d lived my life that way for five or six years so it was scary.” Chill, girl, the rest is still unwritten.
