Everything Kristin Cavallari and Ex-Boyfriend Stephen Colletti Have Said About Their Friendship Post-‘Laguna Beach’

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Everything Kristin Cavallari and Ex-Boyfriend Stephen Colletti Have Said About Their Friendship Post-‘Laguna Beach’

Steee-phen! Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti captured fans’ attention in 2004 when their relationship played out on seasons 1 and 2 of Laguna Beach. The high school sweethearts’ on-again, off-again romance kept MTV viewers wondering whether they were end game or if Colletti would pursue a relationship with longtime friend Lauren Conrad. While Cavallari and Colletti’s teenage love affair fizzled out after the One Tree Hill alum graduated from school — he is one year older than the Hills star — the two have remained close. “We’re friends. I speak to them from time to time,” the Everyone Is Doing Great producer exclusively told Us Weekly in July 2018 of his dynamic with both Cavallari and Conrad post-high school. “I’ll go down. Conrad will throw a killer 4th of July party in Laguna, and so I’m usually down there for that. And then, yeah, I’ll speak with Cavallari from time to time. We always just check in and say hello.” The Very Cavallari alum, who was married to Jay Cutler for seven years before announcing their split in April 2020, reflected on her “great” relationship with Colletti while writing her 2016 book, Balancing in Heels: My Journey to Health, Happiness, and Making It All Work. Cavallari claimed that her mean girl personality on screen was a result of her fighting to keep her relationship with Colletti afloat despite producers pressuring him to hang out with Conrad. [jwplayer 4D4jdEbS-zhNYySv2] “I did the only thing I knew how to do: put up a wall. That made it look like I didn’t care about anyone but myself. But Stephen was the most important thing in my life, and there was nothing I cared about more,” the Uncommon James founder, who shares Camden, Jaxon and Saylor with the former NFL player, wrote at the time. “I hated fighting with him on camera because it felt like I was airing all our dirty laundry … To some I seemed confident and beyond my high school years; to others, I seemed like a mean girl. Either way, I was shocked and sad that I was being portrayed as anything but myself: a sarcastic, goofy girl who just wanted to have fun.” In the years since high school, fans have continued to hold a torch for Cavallari and Colletti — as have some of their childhood friends. “I love that so much. It was so cute to see them together,” Alex Hooser said during a September 2020 appearance on “The Gay & The Girl” podcast, referencing the exes’ reunion photo that they took earlier that summer. “I don’t know [if they’ll get together]. I hope so. I feel like if those two came together and went to MTV and were like, ‘OK, we’re ready to do this,’ they’d be like, ‘OK, it’s on.’” The Mox cofounder was completely on board with the idea of her pals rekindling their romance. “I would love that. That is full circle,” Hooser continued. “I’m the one originally, like, when they first, I somewhat introduced Stephen to Kristin because I was friends with Stephen and I, like, gave him or her — I gave one of them each other’s number.” Scroll down to see what Cavallari and Colletti have said about their friendship over the years:

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High School Sweethearts

“I had a great boyfriend, Stephen, with whom I had a typical teenage romance. He was my entire world, and we loved hard and fought hard,” Cavallari wrote in 2016’s Balancing in Heels: My Journey to Health, Happiness, and Making It All Work. “Normal high school relationships are dramatic enough, but ours now had the added pressure of being seen by MTV viewers across the country as well as being manipulated by the show’s producers, a set of adults who were suddenly very involved in the intricacies of our lives.”

The pair, whose romance played out on MTV’s Laguna Beach, faced more conflict at the hands of the producers, according to Cavallari. “One of the most hurtful things they did was pressure Stephen to spend time with another girl from the show, Lauren, while he and I were dating,” she recalled in her book. “It certainly provided some juicy conflicts, but it also affected me deep. I felt threatened. On one side, it seemed like the producers were trying to break us up… on the other side, I worried that my relationship with Stephen was becoming less stable…”

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'Very Cavallari' Comeback?

Colletti teased the possibility of him appearing on his ex-girlfriend’s reality show Very Cavallari in July 2018. “I’ve heard about it. I was actually just texting with her the other day about something. And she was giving me a hard time. She was like, ‘You’ve got to come on the show,’” the actor exclusively told Us at the time. “A sports show that I listen to was talking about [Kristin’s then-husband] Jay Cutler, the way he is on the show. And I told her, I was like, ‘All right. Maybe, maybe in season 2.’ … If there’s a twelver and a deer stand and Jay and I are sitting there hunting, maybe I’ll come on the show.”

Credit: Courtesy Kristin Cavallari/Instagram

Summer Reunion

“2004 or 2020?!” the Little James founder captioned a cozy Instagram snap with her former flame in August 2020. The reunion sparked romance speculation as fans shipped the exes after Cavallari split from Cutler in April 2020. A source, however, told Us at the time that the former couple have “always been friends.”

Credit: Courtesy Stephen Colletti/Instagram

Cookbook Convos

Cavallari joked about her and Colletti’s past when gifting him a copy of her True Comfort cookbook in October 2020. “Stephen, come a long way from pasta tasting like feet, huh?!” she wrote inside the cover of her book, which the California native shared on his Instagram Story, adding, “Primo Cavallari al dente.”

The author famously cooked pasta for Colletti when she was a junior in high school, but it didn’t turn out the way she’d hoped. Cavallari later told pal Morgan Souders that she attempted to make a bowtie pasta with chicken and alfredo sauce with the help of Jessica Smith but admitted, “It tasted like feet.”

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Cabo Drama

The Hometown Christmas actor reflected on his Laguna Beach season 1 trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, during a virtual cast reunion in October 2020. During the reality TV episode, Colletti famously yelled at Cavallari while she was dancing on the bar, saying, “You look real good, slut!”

Colletti recalled calling his grandma to discuss the episode and his actions but was surprised at what she said about his on-again, off-again girlfriend. “We were talking about it, and I’m like, yeah, ‘No, I’m so sorry,’ and I remember she just said to me, ‘I think she kind of deserved it,’” he said during the reunion. “I was like, ‘Woah, Grandma.’ I’m like, ‘No one deserves that. No one deserves that.’”

Cavallari was also taken aback by his grandma’s reaction, adding, “Oh, my God!”

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Wing Woman?

The Colorado-born star exclusively told Us in October 2020 that she isn’t against setting up her ex-boyfriend with the right woman. “I never have [tried], but I don’t have a ton of single girls in my life,” she said at the time. “You know, it seems as though I’m on the opposite end of all my friends right now, so there’s never really been an opportunity. But I would if I met someone that I thought he would be really into.”

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People Are Really Invested

The True Roots author spoke about her August 2020 reunion with Colletti, exclusively telling Us how big of a response she received after sharing the photo of them together after all these years. “I mean, I knew that like some people would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, so exciting!’ But I had no idea to what extent,” Cavallari said in October 2020. “I still think it’s pretty funny. I also think it’s really cool that people are still so invested in it, and it really brought people back to that time in their lives.”

The mother of three added: “It’s kind of hard to believe, so the fact that people are still so invested in Stephen and I and you know, our relationship, it’s sweet. It’s very sweet and I love Stephen. We had a good time and it’s all good.”

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Teaming Up

In May 2022, Cavallari and Colletti announced that they would be hosting the first-ever rewatch podcast for Laguna Beach titled “Back to the Beach With Kristin and Stephen."

“Eighteen years later and we’re finally ready to revisit ‘Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,'” the businesswoman said in a statement to Variety at the time. “Stephen and I can’t wait to take listeners behind the scenes of what really went down, how it impacted us, and to relive those high-school days — the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Coletti added: “I’m excited to take this ride down memory lane. I haven’t seen the series since the show aired and look forward to unpacking a treasure trove of anecdotes for our audience. Partnering with Dear Media and Kristin makes for a dream scenario. Kristin brings the heat and I’ll try to keep up… Some things never change.”

Credit: Back to the Beach/Dear Media

Dancing on Tables

During the first episode of their "Back to the Beach" podcast, which debuted in July 2022, Cavallari and Colletti hinted that they kissed during their aforementioned August 2020 reunion.

“We lost touch a little bit when I was married. I was with [Jay] for 10 years. So it had at least been 10 years since we had seen each other. So anyways, we went to dinner, we had a lot of fun. Do we tell the whole story?” she said, to which the actor responded that the pair "danced on tables."

When Cavallari asked, “We may or may not have kissed,” Colletti downplayed things. "Did we?” he replied.

While the Hills alum concluded that she "can't remember" exactly what happened she loved getting feedback from fans. “I posted a photo of the two of us. And that was my most liked photo of anything I’ve ever posted on Instagram. I mean, you’d beat all of my children," she said. "You’d beat, like, any milestone in my life. So to me, that’s actually very sweet because it shows how invested the audience was of Laguna Beach. And I think it’s really sweet."

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No Lingering Feelings

“No, I have so much love for him and I always will,” Cavallari said when asked if she and Colletti still had a “spark” during a July 2022 appearance on the “Not Skinny, But Not Fat” podcast. “He was my first real love. It was such a sweet, sweet love, but no. No, I love him.”

Credit: Dear Media Studio/YouTube

Kiss Confirmed

Playing a game of “Sip or Spill,” Colletti asked, “When was the last time we kissed?”

“About a year and a half ago when I went to go Laguna Beach and we went out on a date and we made out,” Cavallari said in a July 2022 Dear Media YouTube video. “I brought my kids to Laguna and we hung out.”

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Cheating Past

During a season 2 episode of their podcast, which aired in January 2023, Cavallari revealed that while she didn’t “remember” cheating on Colletti with Talan Torriero, she did have a wandering eye in high school.

“I don't remember me actually cheating on you, but I will give that to you, because clearly I'm making it seem like I did," the Very Cavallari alum told Colletti while watching back season 2 of Laguna Beach.  "Other than Talan, I don't think I actually cheated on you with anybody else."

The Everyone Is Doing Great producer, for his part, recalled a “couple of instances” where Cavallari cheated on him with other people when they were teenagers. The cookbook author took a minute, but they revealed that she did kiss a boy she worked with at the Salt Creek Grille and made out with someone at a party while Colletti was “really drunk” and passed out in his car.

"Stephen, I'm a horrible person. I am so sorry," the designer said. "I'm appalled of the stuff that I did, honestly. It actually is painful for me to hear. It's painful for me to watch and I really do apologize. You were always such a really good guy. You still are. But the fact that I took advantage of that is heartbreaking. So I am sorry."