MORE: \u2018Petty\u2019: Star slams Aussie neighbour in lawn act<\/a><\/p>\n Star hits back at rumours after bitter divorce<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Mad\u2019: Rove secretly vanished with $35m<\/a><\/p>\n Former reality TV star Lauren Conrad has opened up about her decision to walk away from the bright lights of fame. Picture: Michael Tullberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Conrad, now 40, was just 18 years old when she made her reality TV debut on the hit MTV series Laguna Beach. Picture: Netflix<\/p>\n But after spending seven years in the reality TV spotlight, Conrad walked away from The Hills, choosing to step down from the series and pursue her dreams away from the cameras \u2014 although she later returned to the show for a guest appearance in its 2010 finale.<\/p>\n More than 15 years later, she\u2019s now returning to that heady world, joining several of her original Laguna Beach castmates for a reunion special, which will be broadcast on Roku on April 10 and will see Conrad, Colletti, and Cavallari all appearing alongside several other co-stars.<\/p>\n Despite spending nearly a decade of her life on camera, Conrad admits to People that stepping back into that arena was much harder than she had anticipated, admitting that she had expected the process to feel \u201clike riding a bike.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was going to be easier, like riding a bike,\u201d she shared. \u201cBut I actually had a pretty hard time getting back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s largely because Conrad no longer courts the spotlight like she once did \u2014 having quit Los Angeles in order to return to her hometown, where she now lives just a few minutes\u2019 drive from the property that her parents lived in during Laguna Beach.<\/p>\n The former reality star and her husband, musician William Tell, bought the picturesque beachfront abode for $12.3 million ($US8.5 million) in February 2014, according to records, around seven months before they tied the knot in an intimate ceremony held at the Sunstone Winery in Santa Ynez, California.<\/p>\n The fashion designer married musician William Tell in 2014, and the couple now live with their two sons in Conrad\u2019s hometown. Picture: Instagram\/Lauren Conrad<\/p>\n The couple purchased a stunning beachfront home for $US8.5 million just a few months before they got married, and they are now raising their two sons in the dwelling. Picture: Instagram\/Lauren Conrad<\/p>\n While Conrad did achieve her dreams of launching a fashion empire \u2014 which now includes two Kohl\u2019s lines, LC Lauren Conrad and Little Co. by Lauren Conrad \u2014 she sought to do so from behind the scenes, preferring to keep her personal life private and operating her business as a brand founder, rather than a celebrity face.<\/p>\n While she was arguably once one of the most famous faces in Laguna Beach, the designer says that has completely changed since she returned to the beachfront town, where she now lives a largely \u201cnormal\u201d life with her husband and their two sons: Liam, 8, and Charlie, 6.<\/p>\n \u201cI really appreciate private moments,\u201d she explained to People. <\/p>\n \u201cNobody cares who I am here [in Laguna Beach]. It\u2019s such a privilege to be able to live my life for myself after putting many years on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n Conrad is full of praise for her husband, describing him not only as a \u201csmoke show,\u201d but as an attentive and caring father to their sons, noting that he is \u201cso engaged\u201d with both of their kids.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the parent who does funny voices when he reads the story, he coaches every team they\u2019re on. It\u2019s been really fun to parent together,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n While her path to fashion success has perhaps been somewhat unconventional \u2014 with Conrad admitting that she always viewed reality TV as a stepping stone to the industry that she had always dreamed of working in \u2014 today, the brand founder says her life is much like that of any other working mother.<\/p>\n She notes that her days begin by getting her sons ready for school, driving them there each morning, then oftentimes juggling their many extra-curricular activities, including soccer, baseball, and surfing, sports that have extra significance for Conrad because they are being played on the same fields and in the same oceans that she enjoyed as a child.<\/p>\n Conrad has reunited with several of her Laguna Beach castmates for a reunion special of the hit series. Picture: Instagram\/Lauren Conrad<\/p>\n In 2022, Conrad explained that her decision to relocate back to Laguna Beach from California \u2014 where she had been living in a stunning Brentwood home she purchased for $5.3 million ($US3.7 million) in 2013 \u2014 was largely based around her desire to create a sense of \u201cnormalcy\u201d for herself and her family.<\/p>\n \u201cBig picture, when I think of what I\u2019m proud of, it\u2019s of my family and being able to find normalcy for us,\u201d she told Scary Mommy<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re pretty settled down; we don\u2019t live in LA, and [my kids] aren\u2019t really experiencing any of the stuff that I had for the last 15 years. So, I feel like they live a pretty normal life. \u2018Normal\u2019 in that they\u2019re so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel really lucky to have grown up where I did, and I\u2019m excited for them to experience some of the things I did,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n However, she admitted that returning to Laguna Beach had involved some interesting moments \u2014 namely chance encounters with people she hadn\u2019t seen in close to a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a funny thing, right? Going back to your hometown,\u201d she conceded. \u201cYou go to drop your kids off at school, and you run into someone you haven\u2019t seen in, like, 10 years, and you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re in this school? So, you made a tiny person?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the normalcy that her children now get to enjoy, Conrad said that another major draw about Laguna Beach was her ability to live so close to the ocean, joking that the beach now serves as her sons\u2019 \u201cplayground,\u201d where they spend a majority of their time.<\/p>\n \u201cI also think there is something about growing up on a beach, like, understanding the importance of taking care of it. That is your playground; that is where you spend your time. So I love that for them,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The show will be broadcast on Roku on April 10. Picture: Roku<\/p>\n For those fans hoping that The Reunion: Laguna Beach heralds Conrad\u2019s return to reality TV, she has been quick to insist she has no plans to appear in front of the camera again, telling The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>: \u201cI think this is the last time I\u2019m interacting with cameras. I missed all the people but I didn\u2019t miss the cameras.\u201d<\/p>\n Her time on the reunion special did give her the opportunity to prove that she has long abandoned her former high school grudges \u2014 namely her very public feud with Cavallari, which served as a central plot line in the first two series of the show.<\/p>\n In the reunion, the two women will be seen sitting down together for their first one-on-one on-camera chat in more than a decade, a moment that they insisted was anything but awkward.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m thankful that we had the opportunity to even do that,\u201d Cavallari told People at the premiere of the special. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been, obviously for us, we haven\u2019t had any beefs for the last however many years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re adults. We\u2019ve all moved past it, but I think it\u2019s nice and to show everybody that we\u2019ve moved past it is going to be really therapeutic in a lot of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Parts of this story first appeared in Realtor<\/a> and was republished with permission.<\/p>\n MORE: \u2018Let it go\u2019: Bloom\u2019s $18m ex blow in Katy split<\/a><\/p>\n Georgie\u2019s shock exit exposes $6m retirement plan<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n