“Laguna Beach” alum Alex Hooser shared that her co-star Kristin Cavallari “stuck by” her side when her father got arrested behind-the-scenes of the MTV show.
Speaking of her father’s short jail stint and house arrest — which Hooser said was due to “poor financial decisions” — she explained how “it’s something that was never spoken about” on the hit series which ran from 2004 to 2006.
Now, she is “really happy to have a platform to speak on it” with the help of Cavallari, who she is still close with all these years later.
“But Kristin, she’s ride or die. Still is today, no matter what. There was never any judgment or anything. She knew all the things going on, but she just stuck by,” Hooser, 39, told People Friday.
“Even, again, 20 years later we still connect and have a friendship and forever grateful for that. So yeah, Kristin’s the real deal. She’s a good friend,” Hooser added.
The friends reunited last month for “The Reunion: Laguna Beach,” a two-hour Roku special which premiered Friday and brought the original cast — including Stephen Colletti, Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth and Talan Torriero — together on screen for the first time in 20 years.
In the trailer for the reunion, Hooser got emotional as the host brought up the fact that her “dad got mixed up in some stuff” and that her “life off camera… took a turn that was never shown.”
Instagram/Lauren Alexandria Hooser
“My whole family life was kind of just falling apart,” Hooser replied.
For the special’s Los Angeles premiere, Cavallari wore a white strapless minidress as a deliberate callback to the MTV show’s very first episode.
That first episode back in 2004 also established Cavallari’s iconic feud with Conrad that even bled into the “Laguna Beach” spin-off, “The Hills.”
But over the past 20 years, the two women have made amends and even cozied up to one another during the reunion’s premiere.
The Uncommon James founder also said that filming the reunion was “very therapeutic” for her during an October 2025 episode of her “Let’s Be Honest” podcast.
“I’m not trying to be cheesy, but it really was healing in a lot of ways. It was very therapeutic,” she told podcast listeners.
“I think it’s funny because if I’m being completely honest, I didn’t actually want to do it,” the “Very Cavallari” alum continued. “I’m really, really happy that I did. It was such a great experience and just a nice way to end the whole ‘Laguna Beach’ of it all.”
