Kristin Cavallari Says MTV Producers Sabotaged Her Romance With Stephen Colletti

Kristin Cavallari says her high school romance with her real-life love and fellow Laguna Beach star Stephen Colletti was doomed after MTV producers created a “love triangle” with the couple and co-star Lauren Conrad. E! News posted passages from Cavallari’s new book, Balancing in Heels, where she dishes about her tumultuous relationship with her high school boyfriend.

In her book, Kristin wrote that Stephen Colletti was her “entire” world when she began dating him during her sophomore year at Laguna Beach High School.

“We loved hard and fought hard. My relationship with Stephen went from our own high school romance to the fodder of a hugely successful television show.”

But according to Cavallari, not only did MTV producers orchestrate the reality TV love triangle, but they controlled the lives of the young teen reality stars even more than any of them realized at the time.

“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 were very suddenly involved in the intricacies of our lives. Surprisingly, the producers had a bigger effect, as they controlled and mapped our lives more than we were aware.”

Kristin Cavallari revealed that it was the show’s producers who encouraged her high school beau, Stephen, to spend a lot of time with Conrad as the Laguna Beach cameras rolled. Kristin said that while the scenes provided “some juicy conflict” for the show, in real life, she was deeply hurt.

“I felt threatened. On one side, it seemed like the producers were trying to break us up, which was intimidating. On the other side, I was worried that my relationship with Stephen was becoming less stable, even though I knew if we hadn’t been on television, he wouldn’t have been spending time with another girl.”

Cavallari, who is now married to Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and has three children with him, wrote that during her high school days, her whole life revolved around her relationship with Colletti.

“Stephen was the most important thing in my life, and there was nothing I cared about more. I hated fighting with him on camera because it felt like I was airing all our dirty laundry. Even then, I knew that couldn’t be good for a relationship.”

Kristin also details one of her most regrettable moments from the show, which came after she and Colletti split up and he called her a “slut” for dancing on a bar and kissing another guy during a cast trip to Cabo. Cavallari revealed that she wishes she could just make that scene go away.

Let the rain fall down, Kristin Cavallari is coming clean about that Laguna Beach Cabo trip: https://t.co/ooo9Fs6uBf pic.twitter.com/qudzpmTiV4

— E! News (@enews) March 15, 2016

This isn’t the first time Kristin Cavallari has talked about how difficult it was to have her high school romance play out on a reality show. In an interview an Oprah: Where Are They Now?, Cavallari revealed that producers purposely pitted her against Lauren Conrad while they were on show, which set her up to be the “villain” character. Cavallari said it was hard to watch Stephen go on dates with L.C., so that’s why she put on her tough girl exterior on camera. Kristin also revealed that while she acted like a tough party girl on TV, behind the scenes she would cry for hours after seeing how she was portrayed on the MTV reality show.

Kristin Cavallari’s book, Balancing in Heels: My Journey to Health, Happiness, and Making it all Work, is available in bookstores now. In a funny coincidence, KCav’s high school nemesis, Lauren Conrad, also has a book, titled Celebrate, due out March 29.

Take a look at the video below to see Kristin Cavallari talking about how hard it was to balance her real life with her fake life when she was on Laguna Beach.

[Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week]