Laguna Beach co-creator Liz Gateley has defended the MTV reality series against criticism that its cast was too young, insisting that producers protected the teenagers during filming. Gateley addressed the long-standing controversy during an appearance on E!'s The Greatest Year in Pop Culture, which premiered on Fandango on October 5, 2026.
Gateley explained that all cast members were 18 years old when filming took place, with the exception of Kristin Cavallari. She noted that production aimed to depict senior year responsibly at a time when teenagers begin voting and making independent decisions about college.
Cavallari received a prominent role on the show because of the central drama surrounding her love triangle with Lauren Conrad and Stephen Colletti. Gateley maintained that production kept the teenagers safe, stating, "We protected them," and noting, "I think we showed a couple of kisses but it was very innocent when you look back at it, which almost made it more sensational because it was what you filled in that you thought might be happening. But it was very innocent."
Laguna Beach aired from 2004 to 2006 and followed students attending Laguna Beach High School, although MTV was not permitted to film on campus. Gateley, who also produced The Hills, Teen Mom, and Teen Wolf, explained, "I often said, if you are the parent of an 18-year-old and you don't think these things are happening, this can be a show that can open up a conversation about your teenager," adding, "I think for many co-viewing parents, that was something that opened it up."
Production worked around student schedules to respect family lives and schoolwork, requiring cast members to report significant off-camera events. Gateley praised cast members including Lo Bosworth, Trey Phillips, Jessica Smith, Alex Hooser, and Talan Torriero as natural performers who were game for something innovative across three seasons before launching the spinoff series The Hills.
Lauren Conrad lifestyle empire
Following her time on reality television, Lauren Conrad built a multi-faceted business empire. During her tenure on The Hills, Teen Vogue editor Lisa Love famously told Conrad, "You'll always be known as the girl who didn't go to Paris," a line originally spoken by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, as revealed in a 2019 retrospective. Conrad later moved past her publicized fights outside Les Deux and her split from Jason Wahler.
Conrad became a New York Times best-selling author and co-founded The Little Market to empower female artisans worldwide. She launched the LC Lauren Conrad fashion line at Kohl's and married Something Corporate musician and law school graduate William Tell in 2014. The couple shares two sons, Liam James Tell and Charlie Wolf Tell, who was born in October 2019.
Kristin Cavallari business and dating
Kristin Cavallari transitioned from reality show star to chief executive of lifestyle brand Uncommon James, which opens its fifth physical store in Austin, Texas, in 2026. Cavallari also authored three cookbooks and released a shoe collection with Chinese Laundry. She was married to former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler for ten years before their split in April 2020.
Cavallari and Cutler share three children: sons Camden Jack Cutler and Jaxon Wyatt Cutler, and daughter Saylor James Cutler. After ending a relationship with Montana Boyz member Mark Estes in September 2024, Cavallari told E! News in 2023, "I've gone on a lot of dates in the last few years, but I don't like a lot of people and I don't [think I'm] picky. I just think it's because I don't have time for bulls--t anymore."
Jason Wahler recovery and family
Former Laguna Beach resident bad boy Jason Wahler faced personal struggles with alcohol, drugs, DUIs, and legal arrests after his reality television tenure. Wahler sought treatment on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky and later established Widespread Recovery. He married Ashley Slack, whom he called "the most beautiful, loving, kind and caring woman I know," in what he described as his first sober relationship.
Wahler and Slack reside in Nashville, Tennessee, with their three children: daughter Delilah Ray, born in August 2017, son Wyatt Ragle, born in June 2021, and son August Robert, born in May 2025. Wahler documented his journey on The Hills: New Beginnings and his YouTube series JAWS Diaries with Jason & Ashley Wahler. He told E! News in 2023, "Kristen is somebody we've gotten very close to since we moved to Tennessee," adding, "We drifted apart, we were doing our own things. I got lost in my own world and she was busy having a family and kids, but she is somebody that is a dear friend who has been very supportive in this process."
Stephen Colletti acting and marriage
Stephen Colletti built an acting career after starring in the show's core romance triangle. He appeared for five seasons on the CW drama One Tree Hill, played Taylor Swift's love interest in her "White Horse" music video, and hosted MTV's Total Request Live. He later co-starred in the 2018 movie Hometown Christmas and Hulu's Everyone Is Doing Great alongside former One Tree Hill co-star James Lafferty.
Colletti co-hosts the Back to the Beach podcast with Cavallari. He proposed to NASCAR reporter Alex Weaver in November 2023, telling E! News in 2024, "We still need to narrow things out, so it's a lot of enjoying our engagement, but also figuring out what exactly want to do." The couple married on October 3, 2025, sharing Instagram photos captioned "Mr. & Mrs." before announcing a pregnancy on January 20, 2026, captioned "Mom & Dad." They welcomed son Rhodes August Colletti in May 2026.
Lo Bosworth career and Laguna wedding
Lo Bosworth declined to participate in reality television reboots, recalling on a 2018 episode of her Lady Lovin' podcast that when an executive asked if she would return to The Hills, she replied, "F--k no! I don't want any association with any of those people. The dissociation from all those people is what I'm hungry for." Bosworth relocated to New York City, graduated from The International Culinary Center, authored The Lo-Down, and founded the women's wellness brand Love Wellness in 2016.
Bosworth told E! News in 2024, "I'm not in constant touch with a ton of people from the show, but it's been 20 years. I don't know a lot of people that are still on a day-to-day basis with people that they went to high school with. But I'm very friendly with everybody and, if I saw them, I'd run up to them and give them a big hug." She married businessman Domenic "Dom" Natale in an intimate Laguna Beach ceremony "with our closest family members" in July 2025 and welcomed daughter Nelle in January 2026. She told E! News, "I have grown into the life that I always dreamed for myself," adding that she focuses on remaining happy and healthy.
Talan Torriero life in Nebraska
Talan Torriero, remembered as the show's ladies' man, briefly dated Cavallari, Kimberly Stewart, and Nicole Scherzinger before meeting Danielle Torriero at a Los Angeles bar on her 21st birthday in 2009. Torriero recalled asking, "Who the hell is that?" before discovering she was from Nebraska. The couple married in June 2014 and relocated to her native Nebraska to build a homestead on a 0.87-acre lot. They share three children: son Bronson, born in October 2017, daughter Hudson, born in December 2020, and son Anderson Tito, born in June 2023.
Trey Phillips and fashion design
Trey Phillips pursued fashion design after appearing on the show's season one runway event. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2010 with a degree in fashion design and renewable energy, worked as an associate designer for Vera Wang, and spent time in London. Phillips launched Motion Illustrated in 2023, writing on his site, "I've spent over a decade designing and illustrating for some of the biggest names in fashion. Now, I want to share my own vision of style with you." He maintains a low profile alongside his partner, Kasumi.
Dieter Schmitz hospitality career
Dieter Schmitz, a close friend of Conrad and Colletti, left California for hospitality and hotel management and currently serves as general manager of Sofitel New York. Schmitz married Isabell Hiebl in Monterey, California, in 2016, with Conrad, Phillips, Loren Polster, and "proud groomsman" Colletti in attendance. The couple considers Austria a second home and has two children: son Nico Josef Schmitz, born in September 2018, and daughter Leni, born in March 2023.
Jessica Smith and Alex Murrel
Jessica Smith stayed away from reality television following a 2007 DUI arrest and settled in Texas with her husband, Michael Evans, whom she called "the most kind, patient, strong, amazing, loving and ridiculously handsome human I've ever met." The couple has four children, and Smith runs a blog and Amazon shop while joking on Instagram that she is "trying not to lose a kid."
Alex Murrel, who once competed with Smith for Wahler's affections, earned a communications degree from Chapman University and co-founded social media marketing firm MOX Agency in 2014. Murrel married Kyle Johnson in 2014, attended by Morgan Olsen with bridesmaids Alex Hooser and Taylor Cole. Murrel and Johnson have three sons: Levi, born in 2016, Kase, born in 2018, and Rome, born in April 2021.
Morgan Olsen and Casey Reinhardt
Morgan Olsen joined the MTV series in 2004 to capture her high school experience on film with friends, telling Time, "I thought it would be a fun experience to do with friends, and also a way to capture my high school experience on film." After graduating from Brigham Young University in 2008 with a degree in humanities and journalism, she married Joel Smith in 2010. She founded the Minnow Swim brand, opening a showroom in Charleston, South Carolina, and raising three children: Theo, Georgia, and Julian.
Casey Reinhardt joined Laguna Beach as a non-original cast member before opening Casey's Cupcakes in Orange County and winning Food Network's Cupcake Wars in 2011. Reinhardt married Sean Brown, a relative of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, in August 2015. They share daughter Kensington and sons Sean Brown Jr. and Conrad.
Taylor Cole holistic nutrition
Taylor Cole married real estate investor Kevin Simshauser in October 2015, with Murrel standing up in the wedding. The friends were pregnant just eight weeks apart. Cole founded Taylor Cole Holistic Nutrition and shares her life on Instagram with her husband and their three children: daughter Tatum, born in September 2018, son Cole, born in January 2020, and son Olson, born in August 2022.
