Kristin Cavallari, who began her career on MTV’s Laguna Beach, recently opened up on Oprah: Where Are They Now?about the process of landing a role on the reality show and how she feels about it now.
“I was a junior in high school and MTV showed up and did open casting,” she recalls in the episode, which airs this Sunday. “You grab this 20-page packet and then they would take your Polaroid, and from there, they did on-camera interviews. They sort of narrowed it down to these eight people.”
The 27-year-old celebrity said she and her other costars — Lo Bosworth, Stephen Colletti, Lauren Conrad, Morgan Olsen, Trey Phillips, Christina Schuller and Talan Torriero — were clueless about what they were getting themselves into during their two years on the series.
“We had no idea what we were doing,” Cavallari said. “We were just going along with whatever MTV was telling us to do.”
Kristin Cavallari does not have good things to say about Laguna Beach: http://t.co/OqcknKJGyi pic.twitter.com/Ohs4s8uQ9V
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) December 5, 2014
Cavallari admitted that it wasn’t the best of experiences and blames MTV for feeling “used and manipulated” throughout the series.
“My boyfriend at the time [Coletti] would take Lauren Conrad to dinner and buy her flowers, which never would have happened if it weren’t for the show and MTV,” she said. “I felt very used and manipulated.”
Cavallari said her naiveté helped to create the “bad girl” persona that defined her from the series.
“Being 16, 17 in high school, not knowing really how to handle your emotions or even realizing what’s going on, I put up a wall. I put up a really tough exterior because I felt like they were really trying to take advantage of me,” said Cavallari.
Kristin Cavallari on her 'Laguna Beach' experience: I felt used and manipulated by MTV. WATCH: http://t.co/C5AhwScYDb pic.twitter.com/OeFTTmaztX
— EntertainmentTonight (@etnow) December 5, 2014
When the teen finally saw how she was being portrayed on the show, she says it hurt her deeply.
“When I saw it air and saw the way that they represented me, I was really, really upset. I cried for hours and hours after I saw the first episode,” Cavallari said.
