- The cast of TV's Laguna Beach, including Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari, and Stephen Colletti, reunited for an upcoming Roku special. These exclusive photos offer a first look.
- The three say they've overcome their early embarrassment of the MTV series that spawned their careers in the entertainment industry.
- ‘I think I'm finally at the place now where I can laugh at it and say I was 18,' says Conrad, who was depicted as a rival to Cavallari for Colletti's affections. ‘I've hopefully grown since then.'
There was a time when Lauren Conrad would cringe looking back at MTV's groundbreaking reality series Laguna Beach.
“I think, for a while, I had a lot of embarrassment about some of my behavior as an 18-year-old, things I would say or do,” Conrad tells Entertainment Weekly. “But I also think that that unfiltered thing we had was one of the reasons the show did really well. We weren't super self-aware. We hadn't really seen a show like this before, so we didn't know what was getting used or not used. I think that's what actually made it feel more authentic.”
The series, officially titled Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, captured the goings on of a group of, at that point, non-famous friends at California's Laguna Beach High School, whether they were having a party, going to prom, or graduating. It debuted in 2004, when reality TV was still a novelty to viewers, but with the look of a scripted series and fresh faces who didn't know to perform for the camera.
The combination was a smashing success, and the show took off, propelling its stars to careers in the entertainment industry and elsewhere after the show ended in 2006. Though Laguna Beach itself lasted just three seasons, its cast members have built impressive careers, whether through TV spinoffs, such as Conrad's The Hills, or costar Kristin Cavallari‘s lifestyle brand Uncommon James.
Brian Roedel/Roku