Kristin Cavallari, the resident mean girl on MTV's glossy reality-ish soaps Laguna Beach and The Hills, recently called us from her car to discuss her return to the examined life and her philanthropic exploits with solar panels.
Hi Kristin, thanks for taking the time to talk. You just finished a day of filming and ADR, right?
Yeah, I'm actually driving out of the studio right now.
Based on your time on Laguna Beach, people sort of painted you as The Bitch. You definitely got that same treatment when you arrived on The Hills. Looking back on your Laguna years, do you think you earned that reputation?
It’s funny because on Laguna Beach someone was trying to steal my boyfriend, but I got labeled the bitch. Kind of interesting how that came about... But, yeah, I'm very opinionated and I speak my mind. I have a very strong personality. And it's very easy to label someone like that a bitch. At the same time, I decided to do The Hills and I knew that’s how they were going to play it up, so I decided to embrace it and run with it and just have fun with it.
How different has your Hills experience been from your Laguna one so far?
On Laguna we all were in high school together and experiencing the show together, so there was a lot more heart. On The Hills, I'm the new girl, and everyone else has been together for a while. So that took... a lot of getting used to. But other than that, it's pretty much the same. It's the same director and half the same crew, which made it really comfortable.
When you are going in to a film a scene, how much do you know ahead of time? Are the producers telling you what to talk about? Is it less organic than that? More organic?
"Yes" is my answer to all of those questions.
So Justin Bobby has sort of emerged as the lothario of The Hills. I mean... what is the attraction there? Is it just the motorcycle?
Justin's deal is that he’s a little bad boy, which is why girls are very drawn to him. Girls just want to work for something, you know? And, you know, he's a good looking guy. You can't deny that he’s handsome.
Will there be a new love interest coming onto the show this season, or will we be dealing with the same old guys?
It's very possible that there could be a new guy. I don't know what I'm allowed to tell you...
Speaking of new people, I was talking to a friend the other day and we were wondering if there will ever be a gay character on the show.
It's so funny, I've been asked that a lot recently. I would love for there to be a gay character. I mean, it totally makes sense, filming in West Hollywood! I have no say in who's on the show, but I think it would be great. I'm surprised they haven’t even tried to find someone.
Other than The Hills, what are you up to? I know you want to be an actress, so are you going on auditions?
I'm not auditioning, because if I booked something I couldn't do it because of The Hills. But I'm going on a lot of meetings. I want to start heading into the producer direction, kind of start working on some other projects. It's nothing I can start talking about yet. Oh, and I'm in a movie called Wild Cherry with Rumer Willis. I think it comes out on...
[Publicist comes on the line: "And you're doing your charity! Tell him about your charity."]
Oh yeah, I'm an ambassador to a charity called One Kid, One World. They go to places like Kenya and El Salvador and help pay for teachers' salaries and bring in fresh water and textbooks and desks and everything. I'm working on trying to bring solar power into the schools.
So are you having fun on the show? Do you think you'll stick around for a while?
Yeah, I mean we only film three days a week, which is great. I can have my life, I can do other stuff. Really, I am enjoying it. It definitely took some getting used to, but I'm having fun now. We're all going to Vegas tomorrow. It's exciting.
credit - Richard Lawson @ TV.com
