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" When Lauren Conrad pushes open the door to a chic midtown Manhattan restaurant, a dozen power-lunching corporate types crane their heads to stare. And with good reason: Wearing a body-skimming burgundy skirt, a sexy black bustier top, and 5-inch Christian Louboutin heels and with her cascading blond waves, it&amp;#039;s hard not to notice her. But something&amp;#039;s off. Oh, that&amp;#039;s right \u2014 today, there are no cameras trailing her. As the star of MTV&amp;#039;s hit reality show The Hills, Lauren has lived nearly five years of her life in the public eye. Still, she says, &amp;quot;I feel like I&amp;#039;m a pretty normal 22-year-old. An actor friend told me the best way to deal with attention is to exist in the 3 feet around you when you&amp;#039;re out with friends \u2014 you can&amp;#039;t be worried about people watching you.&amp;quot; But those millions of watchful eyes have helped Lauren parlay her reality star status into an endorsement deal with Mark cosmetics and her own fashion line, Lauren Conrad Collection \u2014 launched in partnership with MTV \u2014 now being sold in 500 boutiques across the country as well as at Nordstrom and Bloomingdale&amp;#039;s. (The line will go international in 2009.) &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t do the show to skip the line at a nightclub,&amp;quot; she says matter-of-factly. &amp;quot;I did it to help start a business. I&amp;#039;m not going to be able to depend on this press forever. I want to run my company when the show is done. I want people to buy it for the design and not the label inside.&amp;quot; Lauren is so hands-on with the clothing line \u2014 characterized by simple silhouettes and versatile jersey and cotton pieces \u2014 that she&amp;#039;s the fit model for each design. &amp;quot;I try to think of things that I or my friends would want to wear,&amp;quot; she says. (She named some styles after her pals \u2014 obviously, there&amp;#039;s a Lo for Lauren Bosworth, an Audrina for Audrina Patridge, and a Whitney for Whitney Port.) As for any negative reviews her creations have gotten, she says, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s business. Criticism comes with it. Even if people are rude, at least they&amp;#039;re talking about it!&amp;quot; While she certainly has a few detractors, young women gravitate toward Lauren because they see themselves in her. She is surprisingly relatable for a girl who grew up in affluent Laguna Beach, California \u2014 which is to say she&amp;#039;s fun-seeking, mildly insecure, tight with her girls, and at times, boy crazy. Lauren credits her normality to her close-knit relationship with her family. Growing up, she spent weekends going fishing with her dad, who now weighs in on her business decisions. She is also close with her younger brother, Brandon, and sister, Breanna (who appeared on season three of Laguna Beach), and admits to telling her mother everything. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t bother being like, &amp;#039;Mom, I met the cutest boy last night!&amp;#039; because she always goes &amp;#039;I already know,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Lauren says, laughing. Besides, it might be tough to keep track of those crushes. In the past four years, Lauren&amp;#039;s dated costars Stephen Colletti, Jason Wahler, Brody Jenner, and Doug Reinhardt. She was also recently linked to My Boys&amp;#039; Kyle Howard. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t have the best dating track record,&amp;quot; admits Lauren, covering her face with her hands and giggling. &amp;quot;I get bored easily. I can&amp;#039;t even commit to shoes right now!&amp;quot; Like most young women, Lauren is reluctant to settle down. &amp;quot;Dating is all about the chase. It&amp;#039;s fun! I&amp;#039;m at a point where I feel like I need to be selfish.&amp;quot; But her single status also has to do with the fact that being on a reality show has made meeting men more complicated. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve tried dating guys off the show, but it&amp;#039;s hard. I&amp;#039;ll do it to have a seminormal relationship, but it usually only goes for a date or two.&amp;quot; A few highlights \u2014 or should we say lowlights? \u2014 from those dating adventures: One dude ran out on the bill, one was mute for the majority of the date, and yet another (she later found out) had made out with one of her gay friends. &amp;quot;Whatever, bad dates make a good story,&amp;quot; she says, shrugging. Ultimately, Lauren says, she&amp;#039;s looking for someone with a sense of humor. &amp;quot;I make fun of guys when I like them. I act like I&amp;#039;m 10 years old. I do it as a test to see if they can laugh at themselves. If they get sensitive, then it&amp;#039;s like, Um, this isn&amp;#039;t going to work.&amp;quot; Is she the jealous type? &amp;quot;No,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s why I always get cheated on... by every boyfriend I&amp;#039;ve ever had.&amp;quot; It can be assumed that Lauren is forgiving, since she&amp;#039;s maintained ties with her exes. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m always friends with them,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;You loved something about them; you just don&amp;#039;t work as a couple. Plus, exes give the best guy advice.&amp;quot; She continues: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve asked them what I did that annoyed them. Brody said I&amp;#039;m too sensitive. Another said I was too available. I met one guy I liked, and I called Jason every time the guy texted me to ask how to respond. No one knows guys better than guys \u2014 especially ones who know what you&amp;#039;re like in every situation.&amp;quot; The public at large also might have thought they knew what Lauren was like in every situation \u2014 that is, until news broke that The Hills is actually faux reality. Lauren readily owns up to the fact that some of what viewers see is scheduled by a production team. &amp;quot;But it&amp;#039;s never not me. It&amp;#039;s just sometimes only a portion of me,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;ll have the best night, but they&amp;#039;re never going to use that because it&amp;#039;s boring. It would be silly to complain, because then we&amp;#039;d be on a show nobody watched.&amp;quot; Currently, 4 million people tune in each week, and for now, Lauren is trying to come to terms with viewers&amp;#039; perceptions of her. &amp;quot;I come off as playing the victim a lot,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s annoying. I had to stop twirling my hair on camera because I looked like an airhead. Sometimes I seem a bit judgmental,&amp;quot; she says, visibly cringing. &amp;quot;I really do get along with 90 percent of my friends&amp;#039; boyfriends! It was just two in a row I didn&amp;#039;t care for.&amp;quot; Clearly, one of the boyfriends she&amp;#039;s referencing is ex-BFF Heidi Montag&amp;#039;s boyfriend, Spencer Pratt. The feud began when Heidi allegedly started a rumor that Lauren had made a sex tape (which she denies). So does Lauren still believe Heidi instigated that lie? &amp;quot;I know,&amp;quot; she says firmly. &amp;quot;Some people have no shame.&amp;quot; As the lunch crowd dwindles, Lauren leans back in her seat, looking contemplative. &amp;quot;The one thing I&amp;#039;ve learned about friends is that the good ones are rare. It&amp;#039;s awful to have to question someone&amp;#039;s motives,&amp;quot; she says, then looks up and scans the restaurant for the very first time. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m in a world where I&amp;#039;m always being judged. It forces you to purge some insecurities, and it creates new ones. But in Hollywood, you develop a tough skin.&amp;quot;       Star Style Evolution: LC&amp;#039;s Fashion Makeover  Despite a platoon of primpers, celebs take years to hone their paparazzi-worthy hair and makeup looks.  Check out how this California girl has polished her look.         Hair Lookbook: Lauren&amp;#039;s Curls, Waves, Updo&amp;#039;s, and More  LC knows how to make the most of blonde locks. Check out a slideshow of her stunning hairstyles!   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a2717/The-Real-Lauren-Conrad/>