TORONTO – They were portrayed as rivals on “Laguna Beach,” but Lauren Conrad has nothing but praise for the decision to have Kristin Cavallari take her place on “The Hills.”
Conrad announced she was leaving the hit MTV reality series at the end of this season. Cavallari will replace Conrad on the show, making her debut on the Season 5 finale on May 31.
Another “Hills” co-star, Whitney Port, has left for her own MTV reality series “The City.” With all the departures, Conrad said bringing Cavallari on board was a “very good decision.”
“I think if they were going to carry on the show, they’ve lost about half their main cast, and they need to make up for that and I think she will be very great,” she said in an interview Monday, prior to what will likely be her final appearance on “The Hills Live Aftershow” on MTV.
“I think she will give the show the boost that it kind of needs.”
Conrad also noted that she doesn’t know how long co-star and former roommate Audrina Patridge is going to stay on the show “so they need to get some new blood in there.”
Conrad has all but ruled out any future appearances on “The Hills.”
“I was done and I walked away and I wanted to end on that note,” she said.
Conrad, who still lives with Lauren (Lo) Bosworth, said while she maintains contact with Port and Stephanie Pratt, she and Patridge don’t really speak anymore.
“We always kind of lived different lives and the show is what we had in common, so no not really.”
As for newlyweds Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, whose public feuding with Conrad has been well-documented on the show, in blogs and the tabloids, the tensions appears to have eased. Conrad even attended the couple’s recent wedding which she described as a “beautiful, nice ceremony.”
“It’s kind of a polite relationship where it’s friendly, it’s fine,” she said. “We’re probably not going to have slumber parties and braid each other’s hair. It is what it is.”
After years of being filmed for episodes of “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills,” Conrad said she’s enjoying life off-camera.
“I thought it would be a little more difficult but it’s been really great,” she said.
“It actually hasn’t been that weird not having them around and I’ve enjoyed the ‘me time’ a little bit. I’ve gotten to spend more time with friends and family which has been nice, and I’m very happy with my decision to leave and I think the timing was right.”
