Truth and Time Tells All

The Hills Oral History Reveals That Spencer Pratt’s Daily Life Is Insane Now

Also: Justin Bobby once toured with Maroon 5.
Image may contain Heidi Montag Pants Clothing Apparel Human Person Sitting Spencer Pratt Jeans Denim and Furniture
Credit: By Rick Rowell/ABC/Getty Images.

Did you know that May 31, 2016, marks the 10th anniversary of the day all of our lives experienced a seismic shift? It was the magical night The Hills premiered on MTV. Lauren Conrad, who we first got to know as a high-school student on Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, got into her black convertible and drove straight towards the glittering lights of Hollywood to move in with her best friend Heidi Montag and start a fashion career. The show lasted for six seasons; Conrad only stayed for five and a half. But, oh, what an addictive six seasons those were. We met Spencer Pratt, one of the best reality-TV villains in history, who tells InStyle in an oral history about the show that his days of clubbing are long over. Now, his day-to-day life is akin to Groundhog Day—although it’s the most L.A. version of living the same day repeatedly that has ever existed.

“Every morning, I make two 32 gram shots of Zip Zinger espresso. I used to have a breakfast burrito every day, but now I have an apple with almond butter, because I want to be model skinny. Then I usually do jujitsu for about an hour and a half, then I eat salmon. Then I go home, ice my old man knees, watch Apple TV, and tweet, because I don’t have any actual friends to talk to. Then Heidi and I will either get sushi or Mexican food and I’ll have some tequila on ice. I keep that in rotation.”

We’re guessing that Zip Zinger espresso name-drop is a paid product endorsement that he managed to sneak into the oral history—or maybe Pratt didn’t have to sneak it in at all. The rest of the piece is peppered with mentions of the cast members’ current projects, from Lauren Conrad’s new book to her many clothing lines, so this may have been one of their conditions for agreeing to participate in the piece. Being on a reality show makes people business savvy like that. Nevertheless, Apple TV probably doesn’t care about the Spencer Pratt shout-out.

Then, there’s Pratt’s wife, Heidi. Yup, they’re still together. “I’m a domestic goddess,” she tells InStyle. “I cook and I clean, and I deal with four dogs. Spencer and I are going to try to have a baby next year, too.” Montag thinks that her former castmate Kristin Cavallari “seems like such an awesome mom,” and that Audrina Patridge, who is currently expecting her first child, “will be such a great mom,” that she has a pitch for a new show. “I guess we need to have the new Hills as moms!” Montag exclaims. MTV execs, if you’re listening, please make The Hills Have Moms happen. It’s the mash-up of Teen Mom and The Hills that no one saw coming, but somehow makes all the sense in the world.

Elsewhere in the oral history, we learn a few fun tidbits about another great reality-TV character, Justin “Bobby” Brescia. He tells a confusing story about how he was coined Justin Bobby on the show. It boils down to the fact that he didn’t want to use his real name on the show, and instead wanted to be called Bobby, his childhood nickname. He told Audrina and producers to call him Bobby, but she kept slipping and calling him Justin. When she introduced him to Lauren Conrad and Lo Bosworth in a now unforgettable scene, Bosworth coined the name by which we’ll always remember him, Justin Bobby.

Justin Bobby was initially hesitant to be on The Hills. We’ve heard the story before about how he and Audrina met: she was a receptionist at Quixote Studios, and he was there to cut hair. In the oral history, these details are a little more fleshed out.

Justin Bobby was actually at Quixote working on a Madonna music video. After his first meeting with Audrina, The Hills producers wanted him to film again, but he had quite the career working with musicians during that period. “At the time, I was touring with Maroon 5 and doing their hair, so I didn’t really need a job,” he tells InStyle. “It took a couple of pasta dinners and the almighty dollar” for Justin Bobby to allow producers to convince him to do more work on The Hills.

None of the revelations about Lauren Conrad in the oral history are terribly surprising, save for one. Remember that moment when she chose to spend the summer at a beach house with Jason Wahler, her boyfriend at the time, instead of going to Paris as part of her Teen Vogue internship? Word of that choice apparently filtered all the way up the masthead at Teen Vogue (full disclosure: Vanity Fair is published by Teen Vogue’s parent company, Condé Nast) to Anna Wintour. When Lisa Love, the West Coast director of Teen Vogue at the time, called Conrad “the girl who didn’t go to Paris,” it’s because, per Conrad, “That’s what Anna Wintour referred to me as. Apparently I came up in a conversation and she said, ‘Oh, you mean that girl who didn’t go to Paris?’ I was like, ‘Great!’”

So once again, the main life lesson we all can learn from The Hills is “Always go to Paris.” Oh, and “Truth and time tells all.” That one really holds up.