When Kristin Cavallari appeared on reality TV shows The Hills and Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, she came across as a hard-partying "mean girl", someone you wouldn't want to cross. Chatting to HELLO! Online, however, Kristin claims that MTV "manipulated" storylines and that she's different from how she was portrayed. "They really made me seem that I was such a bitch when I really wasn't," she says.
In her forthcoming television documentary, E! Entertainment Special: Kristin Cavallari, the former reality TV star tells host Giuliana Rancic that certain situations were filmed to manipulate storylines and characteristics were exaggerated to fit stereotypes.
Reality TV viewers saw Kristin involved in a love triangle with her then-boyfriend Stephen Colletti and his ex-girlfriend Lauren Conrad, but she's now happily settled with Chicago Bears Quarterback Jay Cutler, with whom she has a seven-month-old son, Camden. The couple are set to marry this summer. Kristin chatted to HELLO! Online from her home in Nashville…
You sound like you are happier than ever. Are you?
Yes. Everything has fallen into place. I am the happiest I have been in a really long time and being a mum is the most amazing thing and I love every minute. Jay and I are doing really well so it's all good.
You met Jay after he told his agent he wanted to meet you but it took you a while to get together…
I was in the middle of filming The Hills and I didn't want a boyfriend and to have a long-distance relationship, that wasn't where I was at the time. I was visiting my mom in Chicago a year later and that was when we actually met. It was meant to be. It absolutely felt right from the beginning.
You seem to relish being a mother and wife-to-be. Is that a surprise to you?
I absolutely always thought I would be that person, because this is who I really am. In my early 20s I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed it but I have always been a homebody and preferred this to anything else.
You admit in the E! show that the first episode of Laguna Beach made you cry. Do you regret going on the show?
No, I don't regret it as everything I have gone through has made me who I am, as clichéd as it is, but there were hard times. But I did really enjoy it as well.
What upset you the most about the way scenes were manipulated to create drama?
There was truth to the love triangle [between Kristin, Lauren Conrad and Stephen Colletti] before MTV came but then they kept it going. They manipulated it. I was most upset about my image as they really made me seem that I was such a bitch when I really wasn't.
What do you think was most responsible for changing your image?
I honestly think it took me having a baby for me to be seen in a different light. Even though I have been like this for a few years, but sometimes I guess that's what it takes!
You signed on to another reality show when you agreed to replace Lauren Conrad in The Hills. Had you changed in between the filming of the two shows?
I just embraced it by then. I knew exactly what to expect, I knew what they wanted me to do and I actually ended up just having fun with it and enjoying it.
Where do you live now?
We split our time between Chicago and Nashville. Nashville is where we want to live when Jay's done with football – it's where we really want to raise our kids. We have a very normal life in Chicago and Nashville and we want our kids to grow up in as normal an environment as possible and I just don't think you can get that in LA.
How is Camden doing? How are you enjoying motherhood?
The first few months are really hard but it's so much fun and he's a really happy, sweet little baby which makes it that much better and I am really loving every second.
Do you have any help looking after him?
We just hired someone to come for a couple hours four days a week. I try to work out, and then I can go to my office and work on my shoe [Chinese Laundry by Kristin Cavallari] and jewellery line [Glamboutique] and then take a long shower without having to worry about him.
How do you juggle your life as a working mum?
Doing this shoe line is perfect because I can make my own hours and I can really do it from anywhere, so when Camden is napping or something I can go to my office and work on stuff.
What was the inspiration behind your designs?
I really wanted to create lines that I wanted to wear. I am all about simplicity. They are everyday pieces and you can mix and match the jewellery with your own things.
How did you snap back into shape after the pregnancy?
I didn't gain more than I was supposed to during my pregnancy, which obviously helps tremendously, and breastfeeding burns 500 calories a day which helped. I’m a really healthy eater, so I think that all combined just really worked for me.
Would you do reality television again? "
No. I would do something if it was in the fashion space or something like that, but as far as it would be a TV show of my life, then no I wouldn't do that.
E! Entertainment Special: Kristin Cavallari Tuesday 16th April at 8.30pm on E!
