00:00Some of the stuff I said, I'm like, oh God,
00:01like I can just shake my head now.
00:03Whereas like when it came out,
00:04I was definitely a little more embarrassed.
00:06I'm definitely able to laugh at myself now.
00:08You made it with talent?
00:10Yeah.
00:11Shut up.
00:1120 year olds are funny.
00:16I sort of live my life like in a before and after.
00:19So to bring it back into my life now, it was very strange.
00:23Was it real?
00:24That's what people ask the most.
00:26I remember when this opportunity first came about,
00:29MTV came to our school.
00:30I remember having a conversation with my dad and he was like,
00:33a lot of people who work in entertainment also work in fashion.
00:35And they're like so closely related.
00:37Like this could be a really good opportunity for you.
00:39You could meet a lot of people and it could help you.
00:41And he was correct.
00:42For me, I always looked at this as like,
00:44this is a temporary thing I'm gonna do to like,
00:46make my connections and learn.
00:48And then I can go on to my dream.
00:51I'm Lauren.
00:52My friends call me Elsie.
00:54I've always been the nice girl.
00:56Once the show started airing,
00:58things changed pretty quickly.
00:59And it was kind of odd timing because we filmed this project together
01:02and then everybody went to different places for college.
01:04So we weren't going through it together.
01:06Everybody left for school.
01:08I went to college and like my first weekend at college,
01:10I got on a plane and went to the VMAs.
01:12So it was just like a very strange time.
01:15I think a lot of us were also trying to have like normal college experiences,
01:18which we realized very quickly wasn't gonna happen.
01:26I don't think any of us realized that they were going to like pin us against each other in that
01:30way.
01:30And obviously we started noticing like, okay, this is the storyline.
01:33When we were living our lives, it never felt like you against me.
01:36But that was clearly something that came out of the show.
01:39Shirts were made.
01:40I'm gonna leave San Francisco.
01:43I gave it a chance and it didn't work.
01:45So I went to San Francisco right after high school,
01:48but I only stayed there for a semester because I was still recording VO for the opening of the show
01:53every week
01:54because they were editing as they went.
01:56So I was only there four days out of the week.
01:58It's one of the reasons I didn't stay is I didn't really get a chance to like put down roots
02:02there or make friends
02:02because I was just constantly flying back and forth.
02:04Those years are so hard.
02:07I think I would probably just tell myself to give myself grace.
02:11You're going through a lot.
02:12You're not really sure who you are.
02:14I think as long as you surround yourself with good people and try to do the right thing,
02:18you're going to figure it out.
02:19I do think it would be fun to do a reunion, get everyone together.
02:21We're so...
02:22Oh, see, I won't be there.
02:24It's our 20 year anniversary.
02:26We started talking about this reunion a while ago.
02:29Steven and Kristen did a podcast that I had gone on
02:32and it was a really nice experience.
02:35And Steven had reached out shortly after that and he was like,
02:37we're talking about possibly like putting together a reunion.
02:41We, because they were doing this podcast,
02:43they were getting a lot of offers and other people were getting offers.
02:45It had been 20 years.
02:46We decided that we should just do something all together and do it our way.
02:50The thing that made it easier is that not only did we have our original cast,
02:55people that worked on the show came back.
02:56We pitched this show with Liz Gailey, who was the original creator.
02:59We had Gary Auerbach.
03:00He was one of the producers.
03:01Sham, our DP, did all the camera work.
03:03He was behind a camera.
03:04Bill Langworthy, who actually did Hills with me, worked with us the whole time.
03:09That made it so much easier.
03:11And those are people that I actually haven't seen in 20 years.
03:14So that was one of the biggest reunions for me.
03:17I thought it was going to be easier.
03:18I thought it was going to be like riding a bike.
03:20And I actually had a pretty hard time getting back into it.
03:23I think it's been so long since I've had cameras in my life.
03:26I thought it was going to feel a lot more natural.
03:28It was harder for me to get used to.
03:30By the end of the week, I was a little more comfortable, but it was very surreal.
03:35I had seen most of the cast.
03:38Only people I hadn't seen in a while were Jessica and Alex.
03:42But I had seen Lo and Christina and Morgan just throughout the years.
03:47And several of them have families here.
03:49So we'll like run into each other at the beach here during summer.
03:56This was always a temporary thing for me.
03:58I always was really interested in design and developing a brand.
04:01And I had gotten to a place where that was the majority of my work.
04:05And my time with television was done.
04:08And it was just, it was the time.
04:10I loved clothes.
04:11I loved creating.
04:12In the third grade, I was like, I'm going to be a fashion designer.
04:14I don't know if I just decided that as a kid and was like, let's stick with it.
04:17I was so excited to partner with Kohl's.
04:20Because they were going to give me my own collection with my name on it.
04:23It's a lot of fun.
04:23And I think that not everyone has a really fun job.
04:26And I feel really lucky to do that.
04:28And this brand is very personal to me.
04:30When I was pregnant, we did a maternity line.
04:33When I had kids, we launched a kids line.
04:35It's been so close to me in that way, which is really fun.
04:41Once my husband and I got married, I was like, I'd like to make people with him.
04:45I went to a concert at Williams when I was 16.
04:48Because his best friend, who's still his best friend today,
04:51was the drummer in his band and was dating a girl I worked at a surf shop with.
04:57So, like, I've been friends with his best friend longer than I've known him.
05:00Like, I knew his best friend when I was 16.
05:02And so he was like, come see my band play.
05:04So, yeah.
05:05So we technically met when I was 16.
05:07Obviously didn't date then.
05:08He was older.
05:10And then re-met years later.
05:12My husband's a smoke show.
05:13He was so cute.
05:14I went out to this Mexican food restaurant on Valentine's Day with a big group of people.
05:18And a girlfriend of mine brought him along to introduce us.
05:22So it wasn't like the two of us on a blind date on Valentine's Day.
05:25That'd be a lot of pressure.
05:26But we were like with a group.
05:27So I knew what he looked like.
05:28And then I realized we had met because I Googled him.
05:31Because back then you would Google your dates.
05:34And I was excited to meet him because he grew up in Orange County.
05:38We had a lot in common.
05:38And I thought he was really cute.
05:46We both dove in like almost immediately.
05:49We got engaged like a year and a half after we started dating.
05:52We were just in it right away.
05:53Our relationship has always been a very respectful one.
05:56I remember really early when we were dating, I was kind of joking and I called him a name.
06:00And he said to me, he was like, so I don't name call.
06:05And like, you know, I'm never going to call you a name.
06:07And, you know, let's not do that.
06:09And I was like, oh, okay, we're adults.
06:11We had to learn how the other one communicated.
06:13And it took time.
06:14But I think because of that, it's a fun, easy relationship.
06:18I knew he'd be a good dad.
06:19He's great.
06:20He's so engaged with our kids.
06:21He's the parent that does funny voices when he reads the story.
06:25He coaches every team they're on.
06:27Like he's great and he's so patient.
06:29I'm definitely a stricter mom.
06:31It's a balancing act, I think.
06:32I don't want to be a pushover as a mom.
06:34They like structure.
06:35They like a schedule.
06:36They like all those things.
06:37And we keep that in our house.
06:39But also they're kids and, you know, they want to play.
06:42So somewhere in between.
06:44My eight year old is definitely more type A.
06:47He loves rules.
06:48He loves reading.
06:49He has the memory of an elephant.
06:51If you ever like forget something or be like, oh, I think we're gonna do this.
06:55He'll be like, no, no, no, you actually said.
06:57Like he keeps us honest.
06:59He's funny.
07:00He's super smart.
07:01And then my six year old is a little sillier.
07:04He's really funny.
07:05He keeps us laughing.
07:06You know, people are just born with like comedic timing.
07:09He's like that guy.
07:10And he's like sort of an old soul.
07:11Like he says very wise things.
07:13He's just like a little teddy bear.
07:15They're really different, but they also like get along really well.
07:18I'm lucky.
07:18It's fun to get to know your kids and be like,
07:21what kind of person are you gonna be?
07:23A lot of the places that we go together are the places I went as a kid.
07:28Like a lot of the same restaurants.
07:29The fields they're playing at are the same fields I played soccer on.
07:32So I feel really lucky to be able to raise my kids in the same space I grew up in.
07:37It's a really special place.
07:38Every once in a while I'll be like, oh look, like mama did this.
07:40And they're like, okay.
07:42I don't think they really care.
07:44I think television's like, the way they watch television is so different.
07:47So I think to be like, I was on a TV show.
07:50They would be like, did you play a character?
07:51Reality television and entertainment has changed so much.
07:54When we did this, it was really a new thing.
07:57There wasn't a lot of social media.
07:59Like, it was just a different world.
08:00So I think that if they could have the exact same experience as I did,
08:04I would probably be more open to it.
08:05It seems like a scarier idea to me now.
08:12I post less and less.
08:14I think it's such a privilege to be able to live my life for myself after putting many years on
08:19camera.
08:19So I really appreciate private moments.
08:22I was looking forward to my 40s.
08:24In my 30s, it felt like a checklist, right?
08:26I was like, oh, by the time I'm this age, I want to do this and this and this.
08:29And right now, my kids are still young enough that they want to hang out with me.
08:32And they're so fun and funny.
08:35And I'm just trying to be present for that.
08:37I'm just trying to live in the moment.
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