Kristin Cavallari is spilling the tea on her Laguna Beach days, and let’s just say it’s not all sunshine and surfboards.

In a candid chat with Bustle on July 25, the 37-year-old reality star let slip that while she’s grateful for her time on the show, the behind-the-scenes shenanigans left her with some seriously mixed feelings.

Kristin Claims MTV Did The Entire Cast Dirty

“I think I walked away from Laguna Beach thinking that I was the only one MTV messed with and I got the sh—- end of the deal, and I took everything so personally,” Kristin admitted. “They f—– with everybody the same way they f—– with me.”

She added, “We were very young to have our lives manipulated like that.” MTV hasn’t yet responded to requests for comment, but Kristin’s frustration is clear.

Despite the reality show’s shady production tactics, the reality star isn’t all doom and gloom. “I’m not complaining about it. I’m so thankful for the show,” she said. “I think it can be both things — I can feel like we were taken advantage of, and I can also be thankful for it.”

When Laguna Beach premiered in 2004, Kristin was just a high school junior thrown into the world of scripted reality TV. The show, which focused on the lives of affluent teens in Laguna Beach, California, became a cultural phenomenon, showcasing the high drama of high school life. Over its three seasons, it captured everything from high school romances to petty feuds, making Kristin and her castmates household names.

Kristin Said Before The Producers Exploited Her

In 2016, Cavallari bared her soul in her book Balancing in Heels, where she exposed how producers manipulated storylines for maximum drama. She revealed, “One of the most hurtful things they did was pressure Stephen to spend time with another girl from the show [Lauren Conrad] while he and I were dating.”

The mom-of-three continued, “It certainly provided some juicy conflicts, but it also affected me deeply, I felt threatened. Because of this, I did the only thing I knew how to do: Put up a wall.”

After Laguna Beach, Kristin didn’t disappear from the spotlight. She starred in the spin-off series The Hills from 2009 to 2010, before launching her own show, Very Cavallari, which aired from 2018 to 2020. In Very Cavallari, viewers got an inside look at her life as a businesswoman and mother, showcasing her evolving persona beyond the drama-filled reality TV days.

Reflecting on her teenage years, Kristin admits that seeing herself on TV was a double-edged sword. “At that age, 17, 18, no one really knows who they are, but it definitely made me be like, ‘I am not that girl on TV, but if there’s even a slight part of me that is, I know that I don’t want to be that,’” she shared.

“So maybe it actually was a blessing in disguise and made me be a nicer person in general,” Kristin concluded.

While Laguna Beach might have delivered endless entertainment and drama to viewers, it’s clear that the price paid by its cast was steep. As Kristin’s reflections show, the drama was real, and it left lasting impressions on those who lived it.