The REAL Truth Behind the 13 Most Iconic The Hills Storylines
The Hills were alive with the sounds of drama. Ten years ago, we faced the music of a bunch of 20-somethings trying to make it in Hollywood: Lauren Conrad of Laguna Beach fame was our heroine, working at a little magazine called Teen Vogue, and her best friend Heidi Montag was her trusty sidekick. Over the course of several seasons, we watched as sidekicks turned to villains, with Heidi falling into the clutches of the antihero Spencer Pratt, all while Whitney Port, Brody Jenner, Audrina Patridge, Lo Bosworth, and, of course, Justin Bobby, were caught in the fray. We felt their reign on our skin. (Sorry.)
When Lauren left the show, Kristin Cavallari heroically took her place, opting to create as much drama as possible after Hills advertisements cried “the b*tch is back!” The Hills was a universe of drama and action that rivals Marvel itself, and viewers were usually under the impression that the show had diabolically genius writers behind it — at least a little bit — right? But when the 2010 finale pulled back on an emotional Kristin-Brody goodbye to reveal a soundstage, we fans were left to grapple with the ultimate reality TV questions: was absolutely all of this fake?
You know what you did, Hills producers. You especially know what you did, MTV, when you released this teaser with Lauren Conrad appearing to work in fashion in front of an MTV camera crew. So we went ahead and did something ourselves. We’ve rounded up the most hilarious catch-phrases, tragic romances, single-tear inducing conversations, and deliciously dramatic moments, all in order to assess just how real or fake they might’ve been. What can we say? We couldn’t leave the rest unwritten.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY1/13Lauren, Audrina, and Lo’s entire roommates/friends dynamic
According to Lo Bosworth’s talk with US Weekly, “Audrina wasn’t friends with us in real life, ever.” So much for those #FriendshipGoals.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY2/13Lauren and Audrina’s falling-out fight
Well, maybe Lo’s the one lying? In the same interview, LC said that her emotional discussion with Audrina (when she was moving out of their poolhouse) was all too real. And so was the single mascara tear that fell down her face during the talk. They did put in in slo-mo, though. Real-life drama moves too fast!
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY3/13Spencer’s wild crystal obsession
Well, if you watch Spencer Pratt’s Snapchat now, you will see that the crystals bit is all very, very real. According to Heidi and Spencer, though, they started acting out on purpose in the later seasons, fearing a cancellation in competition with Jersey Shore. I guess they never considered GTL?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY4/13Spencer and Lauren’s infamous fight
Well, this is another mixed bag. While it would appear that Spencer and Lauren do still genuinely hate each other, Spencer copped to leaking sex tape rumors (still saying he didn’t “start them,” though) about Lauren in the first place. He says the evidence exists, she says it’s gross and untrue. Either way, it’s inexcusable behavior on his part. But Pratt maintains that Lauren loved him until he acted out for the producers, causing her to use his fake for-the-show dramatics to smear him in the media IRL. So messy.
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GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY5/13Lauren and Heidi’s infamous “you know what you did” fight
This, the producers say, could not be faked. Audrina, however, says that Heidi always “egged it on” for the cameras, and Lauren says that Heidi was portrayed accurately as an antagonist. Heidi’s thoughts? “I was unjustly portrayed as something I wasn’t. She was my best friend and she wouldn’t give me more of a conversation,” she told US Weekly. I guess she still doesn’t know what she did.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY6/13Justin Bobby and Audrina’s romance
The producers say it was real, and Audrina says that they really did have passionate moments, and that they did date. Justin says they were friends and that most of the drama was all for the show. Still being noncommittal, huh JB?
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GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY7/13Justin Bobby wearing combat boots to the beach
I mean, yeah. Homeboy definitely did that. Not a storyline, but just as significant as a moment. Bless.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY8/13Lauren and Jason Wahler’s fraught romance, and subsequent issues for Jason
This, according to producers, was all real. Even his brief, tear-inducing, friendship-ruining engagement seems to check out, according to Lauren and the show’s staff, who all say they wish that they relationship wasn’t so complicated and dramatic. They actually wanted Lauren to go forth in the direction of other storylines. But I’d say the on-again-off-again of it all seemed to suffice pretty well for us watching at home, TBH.
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GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY9/13Lauren’s refusal to go to Paris because of Jason
Real, real, real. Well, mostly. Whitney admitted to MTV News that she never really went to Paris, or even the airport, but Lauren says that her drama with Jason was real. The producers even wanted her to date a new guy instead. She refused them and she refused Paris, leading to this iconic quote. Always go to Paris, you guys. Literally and metaphorically.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY10/13Their lavish lifestyles and spending (Vegas, anyone?)
The budget wasn’t made for ballers in the first years of the show. Even though we saw our favs out at Les Deux and shopping on Rodeo Drive, Audrina says it was a house of cards, telling Us Weekly that “We shot a lot for the first year. I was working full-time, but I had to take time off, and I wasn’t getting paid. I was doing it all just for fun. It got to the point where I was like, I’m borrowing money from my parents to pay my rent.” Moral of the story: Don’t drop out for reality TV.
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GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY11/13Lauren and Brody’s steamy romance
Fake, fake, fake….except for those Hollywood-level kisses and discussions of friendship. Brody denies that they had any real chemistry, as does Lauren, but they say that they kept up appearances and romantic issues for the cameras. Can we get this Jenner an Oscar?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY12/13Lauren’s voluntary appearance at Heidi and Spencer’s wedding, and her coincidental run-in with Kristin
This one was pretty staged, and that was apparent. Leave it to Heidi and Spencer to have the most calculated, theatrical, yet extremely emotional wedding on the reality TV books. Lauren and Kristin told US Weekly that they were locked in the basement of the church in separate rooms, Lauren completely unaware of Kristin’s presence. After the nuptials, Lauren snuck out the side door; it was the last scene required of her to leave the show. Romance, right?
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GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY13/13Kristin’s…well, everything
In seasons five and six, Kristin hit the scene hard. She says that while she had fun, the seriousness of her party girl image were more invented and exaggerated by producers, going as far as to offer Lo a Birkin bag for putting forth rumors of substance abuse. (NOT cool, guys.) She basically calls all of her plotlines on the show fake, hence the season’s pull-back-to-soundstage ending. Producers say it was largely just a mix, as we’ve noted throughout. So like, what are we, Hills? Is it real between us? It would appear that we’ll have to wait for more reunion content to know the truth. In this case, the rest is still very unwritten.
