As the great Hilary Duff once sang, “Let’s go back, back to the beginning …”
The year was 2004, and “Laguna Beach” had just premiered on MTV, drawing immediate buzz. The show focused on a group of high school friends at Laguna Beach High School and promised to show the world what “real” high schoolers in Orange County were like, not like the 20-somethings on “The OC.”
The show lasted for three seasons, launched three spin-offs (“The Hills,” “The City,” and “The Hills: New Beginnings”), and created stars out of its teenage cast. It set the standard for a new type of high-gloss reality show.
However, while Conrad, Colletti, Cavallari, and Bosworth are still relatively well-known, the rest of the cast have resumed a normal life.
In 2026, many of the stars from the first season met up to film a true high school reunion, which dropped on the Roku Channel in April.
Here’s what the stars of “Laguna Beach” are up to now.
Lauren Conrad was the first narrator of “Laguna Beach” and the show’s relatable protagonist.
The first season of “Laguna Beach” documented the end of Conrad’s senior year of high school and followed her and her friends as they decided what to do after graduation.
A focus of the first season was the love triangle between Conrad, her friend Stephen Colletti, and Colletti’s girlfriend Kristin Cavallari.
Season two followed Conrad as she dropped out of college and began dating Jason Wahler. Their relationship was explored further in the first season of “The Hills.”
Conrad went on to star in “The Hills” for five seasons. Now, she’s a married mom of two with her own lifestyle empire.
Conrad, 40, was the star of “The Hills,” which documented her and a new group of friends as they followed their dreams in Los Angeles. But she left the show midway through the fifth season to pursue other projects.
Now, she has a fashion empire at Kohl’s. She’s also written multiple books in the fiction and non-fiction genres.
Conrad is married to William Tell, a lawyer, and they have two sons. They live in, you guessed it, Laguna Beach.
Kristin Cavallari was the show’s other breakout star, and she became the narrator after Conrad left “Laguna.”
Cavallari was a grade behind Conrad and her friends, and thus season two was all about Cavallari graduating, as well as her complicated relationship with Colletti, who was in school in San Francisco.
She left the show after season two.
She told Business Insider in 2022 that producers chose her to be the villain of the series.
Cavallari took over for Conrad on “The Hills,” and then starred in her own reality show, “Very Cavallari.” She also has her own lifestyle brand.
Cavallari, 39, was reintroduced to audiences when the torch essentially passed from Conrad to Cavallari during Conrad’s last episode of “The Hills.”
During season five’s episode 10, “Something Old, Something New,” Cavallari attended the wedding of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt then remained on “The Hills” until it ended in 2010.
In 2018, Cavallari began starring on her own reality show on E!, “Very Cavallari,” which focused on her life in Nashville with her now-ex-husband Jay Cutler, and her efforts to expand her lifestyle brand, Uncommon James. The show ran for three seasons.
Cavallari was married to former Chicago Bears quarterback Cutler from 2013 to 2020, and they have three children together. She lives in Nashville.
She has also written two cookbooks, and Uncommon James recently expanded to Uncommon Beauty, as well.
She and Colletti cohosted “Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen,” a “Laguna Beach” rewatch podcast from 2022 to 2023.
Stephen Colletti was the object of both Conrad’s and Cavallari’s affections.
Colletti was the prototypical California surfer dude during the first two seasons of the show. Most of his storylines revolved around his on-again/off-again relationship with Cavallari. He also had a close friendship with Conrad that constantly seemed to be on the verge of something more, though nothing ever happened on-screen.
He left after season two.
Colletti is now an actor and writer, but he still dabbles in reality TV.
Colletti, 40, began starring in “One Tree Hill” in 2007 as Chase Adams and remained on the show until it ended in 2012. He then appeared in a few episodes of the basketball drama “Hit the Floor” until 2016. He has also appeared in various TV movies.
Colletti and his “One Tree Hill” costar James Lafferty also co-wrote and co-starred in a pilot called “Everyone Is Doing Great.” They successfully funded the project with a Kickstarter, and it ran for two seasons.
He told Business Insider in 2022 that he was asked to be a recurring cast member on “The Hills” every season. He declined, but he did appear in episode 26 of season three. The episode was aptly titled “A Date with the Past.”
In January 2026, Colletti returned to his reality TV roots by competing on season four of “The Traitors,” even if he did outrage every millennial by identifying as a star of “One Tree Hill,” not “Laguna Beach.”
Colletti began dating reporter Alex Weaver in 2022, and they got married shortly before the reunion special aired. They’re also expecting their first child together.
Jason Wahler popped up in season two as Jessica Smith’s boyfriend. He later dated Lauren Conrad.
Wahler originally appeared on the show as Jessica Smith’s boyfriend, though their relationship was full of ups and downs. After Conrad returned to Laguna Beach, the two began dating, and their relationship lasted through the first season of “The Hills.”
He was a recurring character in the series, and the show touched on his struggles with addiction.
Wahler returned to MTV to appear on “The Hills: New Beginnings.”
Wahler, 39, was part of the cast of the rebooted “Hills,” alongside his wife, Ashley Slack. They have three children.
Before that, Wahler was part of the cast of the fourth season of “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” as he was an alcoholic and addicted to cocaine. He had been arrested multiple times before his appearance and has served jail time. He opened up about relapsing in 2018, per People.
Wahler is also the director of the Change Your Brain Foundation.
He did not appear on the “Laguna Beach” reunion.
Jessica Smith was one of Cavallari’s good friends, and she dated both Wahler and Dieter Schmitz.
Smith was the long-suffering girlfriend of Wahler, but the two eventually broke up after one too many fights about how she couldn’t trust Wahler during season two.
She had also dated Schmitz, one of Conrad’s friends, during season one.
Now, she’s Jessica Evans.
Evans, 38, is a mom of four. She and her husband, Michael Evans, live in the Dallas area. She has her own Amazon shop, but she has mainly stayed out of the spotlight since completing her time on the show.
Lo Bosworth was Conrad’s best friend. She eventually popped up on “The Hills,” as well.
Bosworth and Conrad, or Lo and LC as they were nicknamed on the series, were the definition of BFF goals to any teen watching “Laguna Beach.”
Bosworth also left the show after season two to attend UC Santa Barbara, but when she transferred to UCLA, she joined her bestie on “The Hills.”
She was more of a main character on that spin-off and was involved in many of its most dramatic moments.
Bosworth remained on “The Hills” until the end. She founded a women’s body-care company, Love Wellness.
After “The Hills” ended, Bosworth, 39, started her own blog, “The Lo Down,” which she ran for years, and wrote a book of the same name in 2011. She also attended culinary school and started her own YouTube channel.
Bosworth hosted a podcast called “I Love Wellness,” and now hosts another one called “Tell Me I’m a Good Mom.”
In 2016, Bosworth founded Love Wellness, a women’s body care company that aims to “shatter the stigma around women’s wellness so that you have solutions you are comfortable with.” It offers supplements, multivitamins, sexual health items, and various wellness kits.
She married Dom Natale, an investor, in 2025.
Bosworth attended the reunion virtually because she was seven months pregnant at the time of filming and is based in New York City. Her daughter, Nelle, was born in January 2026.
Talan Torriero was the show’s resident ladies’ man in seasons one and two.
Torriero was a junior in season one, making him younger than most of the cast, but he was pretty consistently hooking up with older girls. He also briefly dated Cavallari, but it didn’t last long as she was still hung up on Colletti.
He left after season two.
Torriero is now married with children.
Before he got married, the former reality star, 39, remained in the headlines for dating celebrities like Kimberly Stewart and Nicole Scherzinger. However, he married Danielle Zuroski in 2014, putting his party boy past behind him. They have three children.
He and his wife now own and operate a farm, Torriero Farms, in Omaha, Nebraska. He also founded the company Ice Blankets.
Torriero attended the reunion.
Trey Phillips was the token artsy friend.
Phillips, 39, was good friends with Colletti and the other guys, though he had a special bond with Conrad. Phillips famously put on a fashion show that Conrad also used as a way to break into the fashion game.
Phillips left the show after season one to attend Parsons in New York City.
Phillips still works in the fashion industry.
Phillips was a designer at Vera Wang for years, but now he’s an app developer. He created a cooking app called Method Cooking.
He expanded on his experiences on the show during “Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen,” and he also attended the reunion.
Jen Bunney was one of Conrad’s good friends who would later pop up on “The Hills.”
Bunney didn’t really make an impression until she showed up on “The Hills,” and memorably hooked up with Brody Jenner even though Conrad had been on a few dates with him — and right after Conrad gifted Bunney with a diamond martini glass-shaped necklace for her birthday.
As a result, the two stopped being friends on the show.
The storyline was juicy, but Jenner said it was completely fake in a 2015 interview with Yahoo Style.
Bunney, now Dunphy, works in healthcare. She has an MBA and a doctorate in public health.
She married Taylor Dunphy in 2014 and now goes by Jennifer Dunphy. They have two kids together.
According to her LinkedIn, Dunphy, 40, was the senior vice president and chief population health officer at Heritage Provider Network from 2014 to January 2026.
In 2023, she published a book, “Don’t Tell Me What to Do.”
Dunphy also remains close with “Hills” star Heidi Montag and is even the godmother to Montag’s son, Gunner.
When fans asked Dunphy why she wasn’t part of the “Laguna” reunion, she had a simple answer: She wasn’t invited. “I don’t know [why]. I can’t answer that question. I wasn’t in the room,” she told People.
Morgan Olsen, one of Conrad’s good friends, was mainly defined by her desire to attend Brigham Young University.
Olsen was part of Conrad’s friend group, although she was a bit more conservative than the rest of her friends, as evidenced by her decision not to go to Cabo for spring break and her desire to attend Brigham Young University (BYU), a Mormon school. She graduated in 2008.
She left “Laguna Beach” after season one.
She now goes by Morgan Smith. She founded her own apparel brand, Minnow.
She married Joel Smith in 2010, and the couple has three children together. Smith, 40, founded Minnow in 2016. It originally started as a swimwear line, but has since added clothing and accessories, as well as a brick-and-mortar store on King Street in Charleston, South Carolina, where she lives with her family.
Christina Schuller was Olsen’s best friend and part of the main friend group.
Schuller was also part of Conrad’s group of friends, though she and Olsen were closer to each other than the rest of the group. Her main contribution to “Laguna Beach,” though, was her infamous trip to New York City when she tried out for a Broadway musical.
Schuller left the show after season one.
Schuller now goes by her married name, Sinclair.
Sinclair, 39, moved to Miami with her husband, Chad Sinclair, and their three kids in 2022. She’s still close friends with Morgan Smith — in fact, they were bridesmaids in each other’s weddings.
During the reunion, Sinclair opened up about mental health struggles she had during her senior year of college and discussed being in and out of hospitals for a year.
“I really wanted to talk about something meaningful, and so I spent a lot of time praying and reflecting on what that would look like,” she told People. “It’s a part of my life that was important, and I think a lot of people can relate in some way or another. I wanted to share something meaningful.”
Dieter Schmitz was one of Conrad and Colletti’s best friends and was frequently the voice of reason among his friends.
Schmitz appeared in both seasons one and two with the title of “Stephen’s Friend.” Schmitz was one of the few cast members in a stable relationship during season one, with Jessica Smith — though the two wouldn’t last into season two.
Schmitz had a “Laguna Beach” reunion at his wedding.
Schmitz, 40, got into hospitality after leaving the show and now lives in New York City with his wife Isabell. They have two kids.
According to his LinkedIn, Schmitz is a general manager at Accor, a French hospitality group.
When he married his wife in 2016, many members of the “Laguna Beach” cast were present, including Conrad, Colletti, and Phillips (the latter two were groomsmen for their friend).
Alex Hooser, better known as Alex H., was a loyal friend.
Hooser is one of two cast members who stuck around for the first three seasons of “Laguna Beach,” along with Jessica Smith.
She was portrayed as a loyal friend to Kristin Cavallari — though at some points it did seem like her only lines of dialogue on the show were asking about Cavallari’s relationship status.
Hooser is Alex Olsen now. She opened up at the reunion about her family’s struggles during the show.
Hooser, 39, lives in Santa Cruz, California, with her husband and three kids. During the reunion, she discussed how, while filming the first season, her father was arrested, sent to prison, and eventually put on house arrest after making what she called “poor financial decisions.”
Similar to Smith’s Amazon shop, Hooser has a Shop My where people can buy products she’s curated.
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