The Hills' Kristin Cavallari admits 'playing a character' as she talks growing up on TV

Reality starlet Kristin Cavallari, 32, has reflected on growing up on TV after finding fame on Laguna Beach, The Hills and now in her own series, Very Cavallari.

The mum-of-three shot to fame in 2004 as one of the main cast members on MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.

After two seasons on the show, Kristin returned to MTV smash hit The Hills in 2009, replacing her former Laguna Beach co-star Lauren Conrad as the lead.

Then, after eight years away, she returned with her own reality series, Very Cavallari, which begins airing its third season in January 2020.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Online, Kristin confessed growing up on camera has been “bizarre” and people didn’t get to see who she really is.

She told us: “Probably from Laguna Beach and The Hills, people thought I was kind of tough. A lot of people would meet me and say, ‘You’re so much nicer than I thought you’d be!’

“I feel like becoming a mum, and as time passes, I do feel like people are seeing more and more of that side of me, and social media helps and then, of course, Very Cavallari, which is a great portrayal of who I really am as a person.”

While Kristin has been the central star of both Laguna Beach and The Hills, Very Cavallari is all her.

She told us: “There have been very different experiences for me and on Very Cavallari I’m an executive producer, so I’ve got that security blanket and that control.

“Being part of the creative process has been really fun, really rewarding, so this experience has been better for me as I have more control over how I’m portrayed.

“In the past I was definitely playing a character – which was fun too – but very different experiences. So I would say that this time around is more enjoyable.”

Speaking of growing up on television, Kristin said: “It’s kind of crazy that that’s what people can say about my life.

“I feel like, I did it my junior and senior years of high school, had a few years of a break before I did The Hills for just a year. So I do feel I’ve been able to have some breaks for normalcy, which has probably kept me sane I would say.

“But in high school it was kind of bizarre. In my senior year, everyone else except Talan [Torriero] and I had graduated and gone on to college and I remember starting my senior year and the freshmen looked at me differently.

“That was bizarre to me. That was interesting, but it was fun. It’s all part of my journey and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Sadly, with her overnight fame, Kristin has had to be careful about who she lets into her life and, now, her jewellery business, Uncommon James.

Speaking of figuring the third season of Very Cavallari, Kristin told us: “You get to see the growth of Uncommon James but it doesn’t focus on any employees besides Brittainy [Taylor] because, believe it or not, a reality show doesn’t make for a good culture in a company.

“I worked really hard in between seasons two and three to get my company to a great place. We’ve had quite a bit of turnover because we had some people that weren’t here for the right reasons, and stuff like that, so I couldn’t go back to that place, so I decided to take the cameras out of the offices quite a bit.”

However, Kristin says she’s a “pretty good judge” when it comes to figuring out who wants to be around her for the wrong reasons.

She said: “I can usually tell. However, I think people do change when the cameras are rolling, so it just becomes a very tricky thing, and I can’t have that in my company, people just starting drama to get more camera time.

“That’s the kind of stuff where I was like, ‘I can’t do that.’ Because obviously it makes for a really bad environment in a company.”

She went on: “It’s a real company, this is going to be with me forever, whereas I know there’s an expiration date on the reality show, so I just want to be very careful that Uncommon James is going to be long lasting.”

Season three of Very Cavallari is available from January 10, while a Christmas special is available on Friday, December 20, both on hayu, reality on demand.