Lauren Conrad was a special guest on Stephen Colletti and Kristin Cavallari’s Dear Media podcast, Back to the Beach, for the show’s Nov. 8 episode. Despite being involved in a “love triangle” with Kristin and Stephen on the first season of Laguna Beach, which aired in 2004, Lauren was in a good place with her former classmates during the in-person interview. Stephen and Kristin had re-watched and discussed the entire first season of Laguna Beach on their podcast, and Lauren stepped in during the finale episode to give her take on some of the biggest moments from the show.
Laguna Beach was filmed during the second half of Lauren and Stephen’s senior year of high school (Kristin was a junior). One of the biggest storylines on the show was the tension between Lauren and Kristin over Stephen (Kristin was in an on/off relationship with him, and Lauren had previously hooked up with him while they were broken up). “You and I never REALLY had any beef,” Kristin pointed out on the podcast. “There was a little bit of truth to what happened to the three of us, but I felt like MTV kept it alive and made it way worse than it would have been.”
Lauren agreed and explained that any issues she and Kristin had were “done” by the time filming actually started. “Everything happened [between us] and then it was, like, winter formal — it was the week before they started filming — we got into it but then we made up,” Lauren revealed. “I don’t think we were best friends, but we were like…it’s fine.” Kristin recalled not even “having an issue” with Lauren, but Lauren pointed out, “We had an issue with each other, but it had been squashed.”
She recognized, though, that MTV “ran with” the storyline after hearing about it in the months leading up to filming. “Which I get,” she admitted. “It made for an interesting show.” Stephen also added, “Talking with the producers, [they said] when they heard these stories that’s when they knew they had something. Like, oh, something really big just happened between these three people, let’s see what we can do with that.”
The trio also discussed the infamous episode where the group went to Cabo, and Lauren admitted her “biggest regret” was calling Kristin a “slut” on the trip. “I’m so sorry!” she apologized. “I couldn’t believe I did that. Where I’m at now, I would never call another woman that and for me it was the most embarrassing moment.” Kristin also apologized for things she said about Lauren on camera. “I said some really dumb stuff,” she shared. “I look back, and that’s my biggest thing, when I watch it now, I’m like, I wasn’t confident at all. I was actually so insecure and I took it out on you in a lot of ways and I’m sorry for that.”
Lauren also admitted that back in high school she wasn’t even aware of how serious Kristin and Stephen’s relationship had been when she hooked up with him. She explained that she and Stephen were close growing up, but in high school, they didn’t really hang out until senior year because she had been spending time with upperclass boys until that point. “I don’t think I realized [Stephen and Kristin] ewre boyfriend and girlfriend!” she revealed. “I didn’t know you guys had a whole relationship. Going back and watching, I’m like, ‘This is really sweet, they’re so in love.’ I didn’t know this! When we started hanging out again as friends, I think I got the aftermath [of the breakup]. All I got was this girl who I don’t really know and a lot of negatives because you guys had just broken up. So I think that was always my idea. One of my takeaways looking back is that [your relationship] was really sweet. You guys were really in love and had a real relationship.”