I will stop talking about Laguna Beach never. I will sit here, coffee to my right, seasons 1 and 2 of Laguna Beach further to my right, and be endlessly grateful to be alive. At ages 19 through 21 (respectively), I cared more about Kristen Cavallari, Stephen Colletti (the then-love of my life, duh), and pre-Hills Lauren Conrad than I did about anybody I knew in real life, so when there’s Laguna Beach news afoot, you will hear about it. From me. Because it’s my destiny.
Anyway, Kristen wrote a book called “Balancing In Heels,” and while I won’t read it, I will gladly read the parts of the book found on sites like Refinery29, in which she discloses what really happened in Cabo. Can you even handle it? (Of course you can. You’re a grown-ass woman.)
“We loved hard and fought hard,” she said. “My relationship with Stephen went from our own high school romance to the fodder of a hugely successful television show.”
“Surprisingly, the producers had a bigger effect, as they controlled and mapped our lives more than we were aware. One of the most hurtful things they did was pressure Stephen to spend time with another girl from the show, Lauren, while he and I were dating,” she continued. “It certainly provided some juicy conflicts, but it also affected me deeply. I felt threatened. One one side, it seemed like the producers were trying to break us up, which was intimidating. On the other side, I was worried my relationship with Stephen was becoming less stable, even though I knew if we hadn’t been on television, he wouldn’t have been spending time with another girl.”
THE DRAMA. But what about Cabo? Am I, a now-30-year-old woman still holding this series from 2006 close to my heart, supposed to just forget about it? (No.) (But I should. I mean, come on.)
“On a trip to Cabo San Lucas, when Stephen and I were actually broken up, I jumped up on the bar to dance with my girlfriends,” she recalled. “Then I kissed a guy I was seeing at the time, completely unaware of how my actions were affecting Stephen.”
And like, okay fine. But when you think about it: how insane is it that we invested so much time and energy into watching teenagers live their lives on national television? How insane is it that we still care? Because I do still care . . . ? First, because this was the first reality show that truly embodied the life we all wanted to lead despite having no access to it (unlike every other reality TV show now that aspires to Kardashian-ism). Second, because I was their near-exact same age, and while my life — at the time — was glamourous in that I worked with the dude I was obsessed with at a hardware store, they were dealing with the same trials and tribulations. Plus, I wore self-tanner, thinking I looked like Kristen.
So, Laguna Beach is responsible for my delusions is what I’m saying. And I know I’m not alone here.
