Reality television Cavallari was in her
junior year of high school when the first season of
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County began production. At the time, she was involved in an on-and-off relationship with
high school senior Stephen Colletti. Cavallari's romance with Colletti caused a rivalry with another cast member,
Lauren Conrad, which was covered in the show. In April 2026, a 20th anniversary reunion special was released reuniting the original cast of the show. After
Laguna Beach, Cavallari moved to Los Angeles and signed on the
UPN reality television series
Get This Party Started, which premiered in February 2006 and was canceled after airing two episodes. In 2009, Cavallari joined the cast of the
Laguna Beach spin-off series,
The Hills, making her first appearance on the series during the fifth season's midseason finale at
Heidi Montag and
Spencer Pratt's wedding, where she caught the bouquet. For the second half of the season, Cavallari replaced Conrad as a main cast member and narrator. In 2021, Cavallari made two final guest appearances on the second season of
The Hills' sequel,
The Hills: New Beginnings. Following
The Hills, Cavallari appeared on various reality competition shows as a guest and as a contestant on the
13th season of
ABC's
Dancing with the Stars, partnering with two-time champion
Mark Ballas. She was the third to be eliminated. In 2012, Cavallari began commentating the
Academy Awards for
E! In April 2018, E! announced a reality show starring Cavallari,
Very Cavallari, which premiered that July and followed her opening the flagship store for Uncommon James. In May 2020, after three seasons, Cavallari announced that she was ending her series.
Acting Cavallari appeared on one episode of another
UPN series,
Veronica Mars, and went on to guest roles on series including
CSI: NY,
The Middle and
Adventures in Hollyhood. In 2006, she signed on as Crystal in the
horror film Fingerprints. In 2008, she had a supporting role as Summer in
Spring Breakdown, which was released
direct-to-DVD. She also starred in the independent film
Green Flash with
Torrey DeVitto. In 2009, she starred as Trish in the independent American high school comedy film
Wild Cherry and as Kaitlyn in the direct-to-DVD film ''
National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year. She made a final acting appearance in 9-1-1: Nashville'' in 2026.
Fashion lines Cavallari served as an ambassador for the children's charity OneKid OneWorld, traveling to
El Salvador to rebuild schools in local communities in 2010. After another trip to
Kenya the following year, Cavallari made her first foray in fashion design by collaborating with the company
ShoeDazzle to design a spring shoe, with proceeds benefiting the charity. She launched her first jewelry collection in 2013, in collaboration with GLAMboutique. In 2014, she co-founded a jewelry line with her friend Chelsea Bulte called Emerald Duv; she left the brand in 2016 to launch her solo line the following year. She founded her jewelry business, Uncommon James, in 2017, which later expanded into selling home and beauty products. She subsequently founded a now-defunct children's clothing line, Little James, in 2019. In collaboration with Feat Clothing, she launched a limited-edition athleisure collection in July 2021.
Lifestyle books Cavallari wrote her first book, the lifestyle-oriented
autobiography Balancing in Heels, in 2016. She then published two
cookbooks,
True Roots and
True Comfort, with recipes without gluten, dairy, or refined sugar, in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Both cookbooks were created in collaboration with Chef Mike Kubiesa. Her third cookbook,
Truly Simple, was released on April 4, 2023. All of her books were
New York Times bestsellers, and her
comfort food cookbook,
True Comfort, was named one of the best cookbooks of the year by
Delish.
Podcasts In 2022, Cavallari started a
podcast with her former
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County co-star
Stephen Colletti called
Back to the Beach with Kristin and Stephen, in collaboration with Dear Media. The podcast revisited the show with behind-the-scenes commentary and special guests. In 2023, Cavallari launched a new podcast with Dear Media called ''Let's Be Honest with Kristin Cavallari
primarily about relationship advice including interviews with experts and other celebrities. Correspondingly in 2025, she went on a tour of Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and New York City to share insights and interview people in her life in front of live audiences, which was also filmed as part of her new reality show Honestly Cavallari: The Headline Tour''. In October 2025, she signed a multi-year deal with Dear Media to continue her podcast. ==Personal life==