Lauren Conrad didn't set out to become a role model when she signed up for Laguna Beach in 2004. 'Course, back then, she had no idea she would be living out the next five years of her life in the national spotlight. Now, having walked away from her reality TV perch (LC left The Hills halfway through its fifth season), Lauren's still trying to find that balance between living her life -- and living up to all her young fans' expectations. So far, she's done a pretty good job at both.
In addition to finding love off-screen with My Boys actor Kyle Howard, Lauren's spent the past year or so writing the first two books of her L.A. Candy series (Book One is already being optioned for a movie). The semi-autobiographical novels, which are aimed primarily at young adults, are loosely -- and, at times, not so loosely -- based on her own experiences under the Hollywood microscope. And while Lauren occasionally addresses the darker underbelly of fame in her books, she says she made a conscientious effort not to glamorize any destructive behavior.
"I tried to find a balance," she told JuJu Chang on yesterday's Good Morning America. "Kids know what's real, I mean, it's out there. So I tried to tone down the truth a bit because I was keeping the demographic in mind," she added. "Purposely, for every time someone is drinking too much or hooks up with someone [in L.A. Candy], there's always a consequence."
Not that she's passing judgment, of course.
"There's no how-to when it comes to being thrown in this situation," Lauren said of her own overnight celebrity. "I based [the books] on the emotional things you go through ... There were so many moments where I was like, 'This isn't normal, this is crazy,' so when it was all done with, I thought that this would be a fun way to tell a story."
Obviously, the rest of the world agreed. Lauren's debut novel, L.A. Candy, spent more than a month at the top of the New York Times' bestseller list. Her second book, Sweet Little Lies, hit stores earlier this week.