CHAPTER 4
The Buddy System
“Maybe you’re the problem, do you think?”
When Lauren Conrad, star of MTV’s The Hills, appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman in October 2008, her interview took an unexpected turn. The first minute was standard talk-show banter for a twenty-two-year- old star of a successful reality series: the amount of drama in her life. Less than a minute later, Conrad asked Letterman if he was calling her an idiot.
She started off the interview by discussing her ongoing feud with her by-then-former roommate Heidi Montag and Heidi’s boyfriend Spencer Pratt. In case you’re not familiar, here is the backstory: Lauren and Heidi’s friendship ended when they came to blows at a birthday party after Lauren accused Heidi and Spencer of starting rumors that she had made a sex tape.
In addition, Lauren developed friendships with Stephanie (Spencer’s sister) and Holly (Heidi’s sister), complicating the social and family encounters of everyone involved. Lauren tried without success to strengthen the relationship between her roommates, Audrina and Lo. This strained Lauren’s friendship with Audrina, who reestablished her friendship with Heidi. Brody Jenner was also in the mix, dating Lauren, questioning her date with a Teen Vogue model, dating someone else himself, arguing with Spencer about his friendship with Lauren, getting accused of starting the rumors about Lauren’s sex tape, etc.
All of that drama happening in Conrad’s life is what David Letterman was referring to when he interjected, “That raises the question, maybe