Kristin Cavallari opens up about unhappy Laguna Beach days

Kristin Cavallari was a "mess" during her time on reality show Laguna Beach, as her life was being "manipulated".

The 29-year-old featured on the show between 2004 and 2005, but admits it wasn't a happy time for her.

"It’s funny because on Laguna Beach I came off like the person who really had my s**t together," she told the Momtastic blog. "But I was a mess — like most teenagers. I was really unhappy. There’s a saying that you have to learn to love yourself before anyone else can love you, and it’s very true. Laguna Beach was really our lives being manipulated."

When the show ended, Kristin took a break from TV but returned in 2009 to The Hills, under the advertising banner "The b**ch is back'.

"I looked at it strictly as a job; we filmed three different scenes, three days a week," she explained. "I had my life on-camera and a completely different life off-camera. I knew the character they wanted me to play, and this time I was game. Since I looked at it as a job, it was fun to play up the villain character."

After the show ended in 2010, Kristin took the time to really figure out who she was as a person and finally became "comfortable in my own skin".

A big part of her happiness comes from her family life with husband Jay Cutler and children Camden, three, Jaxon, 20-months, and 10-week-old daughter Saylor.

The star married Chicago Bears quarterback in 2013.