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.
“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: