Lo Bosworth became well known after she turns on “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills,” but she said she would take it all back if possible.
During a guest appearance on the “Unzipped” podcast, the entrepreneur revealed the sudden fame caused her “trauma” that still haunts her today.
“All of this stuff, still to this day, makes me feel a little uncomfortable,” Lo said of being recognized from the MTV reality shows.
“It comes back to just being young, being on TV for the first time, being at college, kids making fun of you. I think that initial trauma has never really left. I would prefer to just be an anonymous person, but I opened Pandora’s box. I can never close it again.”
“I would be totally happy and content if nobody on this Earth knew who I was,” she added.
Another issue she had with her teen life unfolding on a television screen was the fact that, at times, it wasn’t actually her life.
“As the years went on we realized a lot of the storylines were premeditated, or at least the character arcs — like ‘This is how we want this season to go’ and they made things happen as they saw fit,” she explained.
“More so, I was just not interested in other people in an editing bay deciding, ‘Okay, for Lauren the person, how are we going to present her and what she’s going to be doing?'”
Lo ultimately came to the realization that she didn’t “like being on TV,” which is why she didn’t return for “The Hills: New Beginnings.” But she understands why her castmates, including Audrina Patridge, Brody Jenner, Kaitlynn Carter, Spencer Pratt, and Heidi Montag, jumped at the chance.
“It’s interesting to me to see the people that have chosen to continue to participate in ‘The Hills.'” she said.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, you guys are really leaning into your TV persona for whatever reason, right? For a paycheck, for attention, fame — whatever it is that you need that fulfills you.'”
Now Lo is focused on running her company Love Wellness, a successful health products brand that is featured in Target.
“In the way that the people who are doing ‘The Hills’ are leaning in, I’m leaning in just a totally different direction.”