Getty Kristin Cavallari and Lauren Conrad
Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari were the main stars of the MTV reality series “The Hills.” After Conrad left the show in the middle of the fifth season in 2009, her former “Laguna Beach” co-star Cavallari swooped in to take the lead for the final season and a half. The series ended its six-season run in 2010, but less than a decade later, a reboot was born.
With the second season of “The Hills: New Beginnings” airing on MTV, fans are still hoping to see LC and KCav back. They’ll get their wish with one of them – Cavallari filmed a one-episode cameo and is prominently featured in “New Beginnings” trailer— but the whole thing has some fans wondering why the two women “quit” the series.
Lauren Conrad Left ‘The Hills’ to Focus On Other Career Opportunities & Her Own Health
GettyLauren Conrad, Audrina Patridge, and Whitney Port attend the season 4 finale of MTV’s “The Hills” at Tavern on the Green on December 22, 2008 in New York City.
“The Hills” followed fashion design student Conrad through her schooling at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and through a Teen Vogue internship, but her personal life took a toll when a fake sex tape rumor surfaced while she was dating then-boyfriend Jason Wahler. She had a major falling out with her former friend Heidi Montag over the rumor.
Conrad left the show to focus on other career opportunities. She launched the LC Lauren Conrad and Paper Crown fashion lines and scored a partnership with Kohl’s. She also wrote nine books, and more recently, launched Lauren Conrad Beauty and co-founded the fair trade nonprofit The Little Market.
During an appearance on Whitney Port’s Get Whit podcast, Conrad revealed reality TV no longer became a “healthy space” for her.
“I stopped filming and then I just kinda needed a clean break for a minute to kind of emotionally recover and I took some time off and then obviously moved out of LA,” the mom of two said on the podcast. “It was such an odd time for me and I did it for as long as I could…I kind of like removed myself from that whole scene.”
Lauren also told ET Online that she would never return to “‘The Hills.”
“I’m not gonna do it, but I appreciate that [fans want it,]” she said. “My priorities have changed. My family’s number one and it takes a lot to be on reality television. It takes a lot emotionally.”
Kristin Cavallari Was Unable to Return to ‘The Hills’ Due to a Contract Obligation
GettyKristin Cavallari
Cavallari famously filled Conrad’s spot as “The Hills” leading lady, and when the show ended she followed a similar career path. Cavallari wrote books and started her own business with the jewelry company Uncommon James. She also married NFL player Jay Cutler and had three kids with him. But unlike Conrad, she also returned to reality TV, headlining her own reality show, “Very Cavallari,” for three seasons.
When “The Hills’ reboot rolled around, Cavallari was unable to commit. At the time, a source told People that it would conflict with her “Very Cavallari” contract.
“She can’t do the show because she has a contract with E!” the source said at the time.
“Very Cavallari” ended in 2020, along with the star’s marriage, so she was free to film scenes for the second season of “New Beginnings.”
But Cavallari’s return is going to be one and done. An insider told Page Six that the mom of three agreed to shoot an episode as payback for Montag and Audrina Patridge’s previous guest stint on “Very Cavallari.”
Another source dished that MTV “hawked up a ton of dough” for a huge paycheck for the reality superstar’s brief return.
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