Kristin Cavallari is back – like you’ve never seen her before. The Uncommon James founder stopped by Us Weekly’s “Watch With Us” podcast on Monday, July 2, ahead of the premiere of her new reality show, Very Cavallari. It’s been eight years since Cavallari has been on reality TV – she starred on Laguna Beach from 2004 to 2006 then joined The Hills from 2009 to 2010.
However, her life has completely changed since then. Now 31, she’s married to former NFL star Jay Cutler and they have three children. For years, Cavallari has been pitched reality TV shows, but this one had something the others didn’t: she got to be an executive producer, a deal breaker for her.
“It’s different when you’re 18 or 20 and it’s just you. But I have three kids. I’m a wife. It’s not just me anymore that I have to be responsible for and look out for,” she told Us. “So I have that security blanket just knowing I’m going to see everything beforehand, I can get things taken out if I want to. In that same breath, I want to make a good show. I know that I have to leave some stuff in there that maybe personally is not my best moment, but I know that it’s good TV. As a producer, I’ve had to battle that a little bit.”
While the show is good TV, it’s not about the drama. “This is not the kind of show that we’re flipping tables. I didn’t want to do a show like that,” she said, adding that it will feature Cutler, despite him not wanting to do it. “He never thought he would be doing a reality show, and he really wants no part of it but he’s doing it because he supports me of course.”
Cutler has also never seen The Hills or Laguna Beach, Cavallari noted, but if he did – or if her kids do when they are old enough, she wouldn’t really mind, since she was a kid then.
“It’s so innocent compared to what’s on TV now. I’m like, ‘God, we weren’t doing anything,’” she said. “[I was] 17 years old with a red solo cup! Then all of a sudden, I’m like ‘Woo!’ We were so innocent then. Simpler times.”
Cavallari was painted as the villain on both MTV classic shows, and even admitted that people are shocked when they meet her and she’s nice. “I’m excited for people to see me!” As for advice she’d give her teen self before Laguna Beach began, it would be simple: “Just calm down. I was so nervous, I started spouting away. If I wasn’t so nervous, I probably would have come out looking a little bit better.”
Cavallari’s ex and former costar Stephen Colletti recently stopped by the podcast and answered the question a bit differently – he’d tell himself not to drink so much on that now infamous Cabo trip. “That’s good advice, Stephen. I concur,” Cavallari said about his answer. “You and me both, but you especially!”
Very Cavallari premieres on E! Sunday, July 8, at 10 p.m. ET.
