The 'Laguna Beach' and 'The Hills' star was on her former co-star Whitney Port's podcast, 'With Whit.'
It's been more than a decade since Lauren Conrad left reality TV behind, but the 34-year-old fashion designer, business woman, and mother of two recently revisited her past on The Hills and Laguna Beach with her former co-star, Whitney Port. Conrad was on Port's Dear Media podcast, With Whit, on Tuesday where she discussed who she still keeps in touch with from her TV days.
"Most of the people I'm close with that I filmed with are from Laguna," she said of the show set in her hometown in California. "So like Dieter [Schmitz], I talk to all the time."
Conrad added that pre-quarantine she'd see her ex, Stephen Colletti, around the holidays and high school pal Christina Schuller.
"It's more seeing people that I grew up with, who I also did the show with," she explained.
After appearing on two seasons of MTV's Laguna Beach in high school and after, Conrad was approached by producers about the spin-off series, The Hills.
"I said yes pretty quickly," she admitted. "I was in college and I was kind of trying to figure it out. And I mean, if we're being blunt, I was broke. And I was like, yeah, that was the easiest money I ever made. Like, this isn't going to last, like, I'll get paid for a pilot. Let's do it. So that had a lot to do with it and, you know, I had fun. So I was like, why not?"
Conrad decided to step away from the series in 2010 after five seasons. These days she spends her time focusing on her businesses and her life with husband William Tell and their two sons, Liam, 3, and Charlie, 11 months. After sharing so much of her personal life on TV, she's enjoying the freedom of getting to decide what fans see now.
"I like that I have the option," she told Port. "It was never a choice before. I felt an obligation. It was my job. They were for other people's entertainment. And now I have control over what I show and what I don't. And I only show what makes me feel good. If it's something where I'm questioning it, I just don't."
Conrad's priorities have shifted as her family has grown.
"For me, especially now, you know, being married and with kids, it's really important that I'm in a good place," she said. "And my happiness is my family's happiness. You know what I mean? Like I need to be in a good place to take care of them and be a good partner and mother. Then when I get to the point where I'm like, this is making me really unhappy, or this is affecting me in a way that's going to affect my family, that's kind of where, when I shut it down."
Earlier this year, Conrad opened up to ET about why she'll never do reality TV again. Check out the exclusive interview below.
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