At age 17, Lauren Conrad shared her life with the world as the lead role in Laguna Beach.
The show followed the lives of Lauren and her friends as they navigated growing up in the privileged suburb of Orange County. We got a close up look of the teenagers and their personal lives, while they were still attending high school. Lauren, known to her friends as LC, was your typical girl next door with her blonde hair, strappy singlets and blue low-rise jeans.
When the series debuted in 2004, it was an immediate hit with MTV viewers. So popular, in fact, that when LC graduated high school she was given her own spin-off show, The Hills. The late 2000s series focused on Lauren while she tried to make a name for herself in the fashion industry.
The most well-known of all The Hills alumni, Lauren left the show in the penultimate season in 2009 – leaving Kristin Cavallari to step in as lead.
For LC, her future was still unwritten. (I had to.)
But since leaving, Lauren has made the triumphant transition from reality TV personality to social media superstar and affluent business woman - a transformation that few reality stars are successful in.
In 2009, Lauren released her first novel L.A. Candy, a young-adult novel which debuted #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for over a month. This began her career as an author - as well as her plethora of other job titles. She is now the author of more than 10 books.
After the show, the reality star launched two fashion lines: LC Lauren Conrad and Paper Crown.
In 2014, she married lawyer William Tell and three years later in July 2017, they welcomed their first son, Liam.
In an interview with People, Lauren said when she met her husband, she knew she wanted to have kids.
"In my early 20s I was open to having them or not having them. But after meeting William, I changed my mind," she said. "I knew I wanted to have a family with him. But I didn’t want to do it right away."
In August last year, MTV announced they will be doing a reboot of Hills show, but with two noticeable absences. Everyone's favourite frenemies of the noughties, Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari both declined offers to be part of The Hills: New Beginnings.
A source confirmed to People that Lauren chose not to take part in the reboot because "She’s in a different place in her life".
"But she wants everyone to enjoy themselves. She wishes everyone the best. She loves being a mother and focusing on her family and on her work."
As for her feud with Kristin on both Laguna Beach and The Hills, the two still aren't the best of friends more than 10 years later.
Lauren has remained tight-lipped on their (lack of) relationship, but Kristin, who now has her own reality show on the E! Network, has since revealed that the former co-stars haven't spoken in a while.
She told BuzzFeed in 2016, "I think because of the show, the rivalry between Lauren and I sort of escalated. We were never friends. We just weren't... And that's because I felt like she was trying to steal my boyfriend".
Today, Lauren runs a self-titled lifestyle blog that boasts over a million followers on Instagram.
As if that combined with her fashion lines aren't enough, she's also the co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation, The Little Market, where customers can buy beautiful products handmade by artisans around the world. Each purchase made generates income for the artisans and their families to ultimately improve their quality of life.
In a decision that will warm all fans' hearts, Lauren moved back to Laguna Beach in 2017. Speaking to InStyle, she said: "There's a lot more going on in L.A., but for everyday life it's easier to get out of the city".
"I've actually had a place [in Laguna Beach] for eight years. I would go there every weekend, then weekends turned to three days out of the week, then four, and eventually I just decided to move back."
She continued: "I'm just one of those people that really loves where I grew up. I never really left."
With over six million Instagram followers and a slew of successful business ventures, Lauren has leveraged her ultimate 'It Girl' status from the noughties. But, as far as we can tell, she is still just LC from Laguna Beach.