Prepare to drench yourself in (secret) words unspoken.
It's been a decade since Lauren Conrad ditched Stephen Colletti and her high school drama and took her BMW on the road to LA, the place where dreams are made of...while waiting in line at Les Deux.
Before Heidi got plastic surgery, Spencer jumped into the crystal deep end, and Kristin Cavallari brought "b*tch" back, Conrad was our relatable heroine on MTV's mega-hit reality TV show, The Hills, defining a generation through withering stares and headbands.
We rooted LC on as she faced the plight after plight, including bad dates, bad friends, bad fashion and bad choices — proving LA is a terrible place, but Lauren powered on. And despite being the girl who didn't go to Paris, the winged-eyeliner girl turned mogul managed to build an inspirational empire, including two fashion lines, a series of best-selling books and a staggering social media following.
In honor of the 10-year anniversary of The Hills, and Conrad's continuing mainstream success, MTV aired a behind-the-scenes special on Tuesday, revealing never-before-aired scenes, stories from producers and interviews with Lauren. The 45-minute TV event, titled That Was Then, This is Now, was at times anti-climatic and at other times very genuine — notably, Lauren's parents sharing the struggles of raising a reality star. It was an all-around sweet look back at a cultural touchstone.
"The issues we dealt with are not specific to that time," she said. "No matter where you live or who you are, you fall in love, you have your heart broken, you make friends and you lose friends...You're still figuring out who you are."
And while The Hills did star three other girls (Whitney Port, Audrina Patridge, Heidi Montag) and a slew of secondary characters (Spencer Pratt, Brody Jenner, Stephanie Pratt...the list goes on), the special focused solely on Lauren -- because this was truly her unwritten story.
1. Production had already set up Lauren's Teen Vogue internship (hi!), so her interview was a formality for cameras.
Lauren, though, wasn't convinced she had the job, even after realizing Whitney Port had already been mic'ed and cast as her work cohort. "I never assumed anything was mine," she said of the process.
2. The fight with Audrina during season 3 began when Audrina put a lock on the door to her guest house.
"Every argument felt like the end of the world," Lauren said of the time. (Any 19-year-old could relate to that.) Looking back, however, she admits she "was just being dramatic."
3. When Lauren dropped off Jason's stuff on the curb at the start of the second season, she knew something was off.
Lauren spoke a lot about Jason's partying, saying she often had to take care of him. She also said the first time she saw Jason post break-up was filming that scene, which is why she was so emotional. "It was painful, but I got it," she said on filming her relationship woes.
4. Kim Kardashian was at Heidi and Spencer's housewarming party.
In perhaps the best unaired footage ever in existence, we see that Kim K (yup, that one) was at Speidi's apartment-warming party, where Heidi gave Kim a tour of their exotic fish tank. Apparently, Speidi owned the only jellyfish in all of America — Kim wasn't excited. More shockingly, MTV somehow sat on this footage for almost a decade.
5. The show, unsurprisingly, was never "unwritten."
Producers finally showed Lauren one of their rundowns for the gang's night out. MTV would predict what plot lines would go on, down to drama-filled stares across the room. Lauren called the scripts "super creepy."
6. The now iconic showdown at Les Deux between Lauren and Heidi was coordinated by producers, and Lauren was upset MTV had set her up.
"MTV should care what Spencer did to me," Lauren says in previously unaired audio. "It's not OK that they let [Spencer] up here. It's not f*cking funny when you guys do that."
7. Brody Jenner was a made-for-TV boyfriend.
Unfortunately, the cutest romance on The Hills was also the most heavily produced. Lauren admits that she and Brody had "no chemistry," and she only let the producers turn their friendship into something more to relieve the pressure of having to find a love interest who would agree to be on camera.
We also get to see some very awkward behind-the-scenes footage of Lauren and Brody's first kiss, which they repeated twice to get the take just right. (And you thought your dating life was weird.)
8. Paris isn't always a good idea.
When Lauren finally got the chance to travel to Paris, she lived out all our dreams by attending a ball and going on a picture-perfect motorcycle ride around town. But, turns out, the guy was a random suitor picked out by producers whom Lauren had no interest in. They even tried to force a kiss, but Lauren literally ran away from it.
MTV also orchestrated her ruining her expensive dress and panicking over it. Lame.
- Lauren has never re-watched the show, but she's learned a lot from it.
"Even though I had some bad experiences, I took something away from every relationship," she said. "One of the biggest things I learned about myself when I filmed is I was a just little harsh with people sometimes... It's important to be asked for your opinion... Going back, I would do it again."
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