Lauren Conrad burst onto the scene in 2004 aged 18, when she was cast in Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County. But her fame reached dizzying heights two years later when she bagged her own spin-off series The Hills, where every corner of her private life was played out for MTV viewers to consume.
From 2006 until 2009, Lauren, now 37, starred in five of the six seasons of The Hills, with her reason for leaving commonly listed as 'wanting to pursue other career opportunities'. While that was a factor, there was more to it.
What happened on The Hills?
The Hills captured Lauren's life since leaving high school, including carving a path in the fashion industry while balancing Hollywood relationships and spats with friends. The most famous of the latter was with Heidi Montag in season three, with Lauren suspecting that Heidi and her now-husband Spencer Pratt were behind the rumours of a sex tape between Lauren and now ex-boyfriend Jason Wahler. The falling out proved to be irreparable and it developed into a feud which spilled over into the subsequent seasons.
What has Lauren said?
In 2020, Lauren appeared on fellow The Hills co-star Whitney Port's podcast and opened up about why she closed the door on reality TV.
She said, 'I stopped filming and then I just needed a clean break for a minute to kind of emotionally recover. I took some time off and then obviously moved out of LA.'
She went on to explain that she did the show 'for as long as I could' and noted that it wasn't a 'healthy space' for her anymore.
She added, 'I [was like], "I need to live my own life and do this." I removed myself from that whole scene. There are certain toxic elements there and it gets really hard…I got to step away from this world and heal in a way, and figure out who I want to be.'
Are Lauren and Heidi friends again?
Bridges have not been built. In June last year, Heidi told Us Weekly, 'Lauren and I have not spoken. Now that we’re both mothers, I think we see how unimportant so much of the drama is. Also it really makes you have a tighter group of friends, and you don’t really have time to chit-chat or have long-term acquaintances. We are just on such different paths at this point. I would hope there is more mutual respect.'
What is Lauren doing now?
Lauren has been married to former Something Corporate guitarist William Tell since 2014 and together they have sons William 'Liam' James, five, and Charles 'Charlie' Wolf, three.
In 2011, Lauren started a lifestyle blog, Lauren Conrad Co, but announced last month that she'd made the 'tough decision' to say goodbye to it.
She is a designer - including for baby and children's goods - and is the co-founder of The Little Market, which is described as, 'A non-profit shop dedicated to supporting economic empowerment for individuals in underserved communities locally, nationally, and globally.'