Alex Hooser says Kristin Cavallari stood by her without judgment while she was dealing with her father’s legal troubles during filming of Laguna Beach, a period she described as “pretty traumatic.” Hooser said the MTV series never showed her father’s arrest or house arrest, even as her life off camera was unraveling.
Hooser, 39, said Cavallari was “ride or die” then and still is now, adding that the friendship has lasted 20 years. “Even, again, 20 years later we still connect and have a friendship and forever grateful for that. So yeah, Kristin’s the real deal. She’s a good friend,” Hooser said.
Hooser said she was grateful to have had a platform to talk about what was happening, because it was never discussed publicly at the time. She said her father went to jail amid poor financial decisions while the show was being filmed, a reality that sat far outside the carefree image the series projected.
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The contrast goes to the heart of why Laguna Beach still draws attention 20 years after it debuted in 2004. Executive producer Liz Gateley said the cast was found by going into their high school, and that the group was made up of real friends who had known one another since about age 6, which is why the show felt so immediate. Gateley said the casting tapes showed a real love triangle and that the cast spoke in sound bites; she said she cried when she watched the test tape and called it an instant yes.
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Gateley also said the love triangle between Kristin Cavallari, Lauren Conrad and Stephen Colletti unfolded naturally, and that the series captured real friends and real behind-the-scenes situations. That authenticity gave Laguna Beach its staying power, but Hooser’s account shows how much of the most difficult part of her story never made it to air. Cavallari’s loyalty, Hooser’s comments suggest, was not part of the script — it was the part that lasted.
