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A ”Dancing with the Stars” alum opened up about a scandal that took place early in her career.
Audrina Patridge competed on the 11th season of DWTS, where she finished in seventh place with her pro partner Tony Dovolani. Patridge joined DWTS on the heels of her long run on MTV’s “The Hills”, which she starred in for six seasons, from 2006 to 2010.
But two years before DWTS, Patridge found herself embroiled in a nude photo scandal — and it happened after a friend betrayed her.
Here’s what you need to know:
Audrina Patridge Explained How Nude Photos Surfaced Early in Her Career
GettyAudrina Patridge of The Hills.
On a June 2022 episode of the “Viall Fialls” podcast, Patridge opened up about how she was taken advantage of when she was a naive teenager pursuing a career in modeling.
“I was kind of guided and peer-pressured in certain situations that I wish I could say, ‘no,'” she told host Viall, adding that she wished she could have been “strong with my ‘no,’ and not fall into peer pressure with, you know, topless photos.”
“I was young and very trusting of others, and I didn’t know to protect myself,” she added.
After posing for what she thought would be “artistic” nude photos, Patridge was blindsided a few years later when they surfaced once she found fame on “The Hills.”
“It was devastating for me when those pictures came out, and I trusted a photographer,” she said of the photo leak, adding that the photographer was a female friend who sold the photos behind her back.
Patridge said she felt ashamed afterward, and that the experience made her more closed off.
“People spin it into a judgmental, negative way, and then it makes you feel shameful and bad about yourself,” she said of the experience. “I don’t trust a lot of people,” she added.
Patridge also told Viall that when it comes to her 6-year-old daughter, Kirra, whom she shares with ex-husband Corey Bohan, she will tell her, “There’s so much more you can do with yourself and who you are than making money off of photos or naked… She can learn from my mistakes.”
“It is a lesson learned, for myself, and hopefully for the young girls who look up to me,
the reality star added.
According to MTV News, as an aspiring teen model, Patridge posed topless wearing a plaid schoolgirl skirt, and she was also photographed nude in a bathtub and in a pool. At the time, Patridge explained the nude photos in a MySpace message to fans, telling her followers that they were “taken when I was just out of high school and beginning to model,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
Audrina Patridge Had Support From a ‘Hills’ Co-Star & Fellow DWTS Contestant
GettyKristin Cavallari and Audrina Patridge attend the Kristin Cavallari By Chinese Laundry presentation at Row NYC
During the “Viall Files” interview, Patridge credited then-boyfriend Justin Bobby Brescia for helping her get through the scandal. She said Brescia told her, “Who cares? They’re boobs. Everybody has boobs. Stop freaking out about it.”
In addition to Brescia, Patridge had support from her “Hills” co-star Kristin Cavallari, who also happens to be a DWTS alum. Cavallari felt that Patridge would be able to weather the scandal with no problem.
“She can move on from it,” Cavallari told Us Weekly in 2008, per TV Fanatic. She’s young, she did her thing, whatever. She looks good. Her body is bangin’!”
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DWTS Alum Says She Doesn’t ‘Trust’ People After Photo Scandal