Autorentext
Audrina Patridge is one of the original stars of the MTV series The Hills, a reality show and pop culture phenomenon that lasted from 2006 to 2010. In 2019, Audrina and the show returned to MTV with the highly anticipated reboot The Hills: New Beginnings. In the intervening decade, she launched the luxury swimwear label Prey Swim, traveled the world as the host of NBC's travel and lifestyle show 1st Look, and got married and divorced. She and her daughter currently reside in Southern California.

Klappentext

From the star of MTV’s The Hills and The Hills: New Beginnings, a candid and insightful reflection on aughts tabloid fame, the powerlessness and loss of self in toxic situations, and the life-changing power of even our smallest choices.

If you know Audrina Patridge from one of the most successful reality shows ever, MTV’s The Hills, you know that she doesn’t pull punches. For years, she hid the challenges she faced, but now, she’s finally sharing her full story for the first time—and it’s not a neat little story, tied with a bow. This is the unvarnished truth about being young and carefree in Los Angeles, filming The Hills, and getting access to the most exclusive parties, decadent restaurants, and VIP clubs. It’s also the unvarnished truth about darker days, when she lost her confidence, her voice, and even her self-worth as she was pushed to the brink of losing almost everything.

Just like The Hills, Audrina is back and better than ever. In Choices, she’s baring it all: the nearly soul-crushing struggles, the beauty of finally reclaiming her power, and the incredible experiences and behind-the-scenes details of The Hills. This is the story of an eighteen-year-old girl who took a chance and had the experience of a lifetime on a reality TV phenomenon that made her a household name and tabloid regular. But it’s also the story of a thirty-six-year-old woman and mother who regained her voice after years in a series of unfulfilling and even toxic relationships. Deeply insightful and wonderfully entertaining, Choices is a story of redemption, renewed strength, and reckoning with the choices we make.

Zusammenfassung
From the star of MTV's The Hills and The Hills: New Beginnings, CHOICES: TO THE HILLS AND BACK AGAIN is a candid and powerful reflection on aughts tabloid fame, toxicity and abuse, and the life-changing power of even our smallest choices.

Leseprobe
Chapter One: From Orange County to ‘The Hills’ • Chapter One • From Orange County to The Hills
Reality television would come to shape my entire life—for better or worse—and bring me some of the greatest opportunities I could ever dream of. And yet, I didn’t grow up watching reality television. When I was a teenager, my favorite shows were Dawson’s Creek (team Pacey, for the record!) and Felicity. I watched TRL every day after school, and I watched hours and hours of MTV music videos.

When I look back on my simple, family-oriented childhood in Orange County, it’s sort of surprising that I would come to find myself on reality TV for most of my adult life. I grew up in Yorba Linda, a very laid-back suburban community twenty minutes from the beach. My mom was a stay-at-home mom and my dad is an engineer for our family business, which makes mechanical parts for big companies to use on anything from airplanes to rides at Disneyland, from huge oil rigs to huge factory machinery for Coca-Cola.

My mom was not the PTA, baking cookies kind of mom. She was the outgoing, funny one that all of my friends love. She was fun and open, and my house was the hangout for most of my friends and my siblings’ friends too. It was often a full house with me and my three younger siblings: my sisters, Casey and Samantha, and my brother, Mark. My mom also let us kids decorate our rooms however we wanted, so at one point, I had all four walls of my room painted different bright colors like a giant Rubik’s cube. I love that she let us express ourselves like that. Geographically, my hometown’s not that far from LA, but spiritually, it’s a whole different planet. I loved growing up in a such a quiet, tight-knit town. A few years ago, I moved back to Orange County with my daughter because I want her to be raised in that same slower-paced, family-friendly environment.

My mom went over-the-top when it came to celebrations and threw us all these elaborate, themed parties. My favorites were my thirteenth-birthday “luau” with real fire dancers, and my eighteenth Vegas-themed party with craps and poker tables set up around our backyard to look like a real casino. I’ve started doing the same thing for Kirra, staging big, fun-themed birthday parties, which she seems to love—especially her mermaid-themed third birthday, complete with a sequined mermaid tail and an appearance by a “real” mermaid.

We went to church most Sundays as a family, all dressed in our Sunday best, my sisters and I with our hair done and dresses on. I liked going to church as a kid. I felt like it gave me the basis for my values and taught me where to turn when it feels like I have no one, which is to God. I tried the church’s theater group too, and it was great place to explore my love of performing. Ever since I was little, I’ve always been intrigued by acting and performing. I remember being five or six and watching The Mickey Mouse Club, and I would always tell my mom that I was going to be on that TV one day. I knew at a young age that’s what I wanted to do. So in high school, I started going to acting classes, and my mom really supported me with that. I was kind of shy growing up, but I broke out of it and pushed myself out of my comfort zone to pursue acting.

I honestly never liked high school. I went there to learn and I worked hard to do my homework during my lunch break so I could leave school at school. I looked forward to coming home and spending time with my family, or doing other activities like dance and theater. I even loaded up on my classes during my first three years of high school, so by senior year, I was at school only three hours a day and I could work afterward.

Don’t get me wrong: I had a lot of friends in high school. I was friendly with everyone, and didn’t get caught up in the drama or gossip. My mom told me that I wasn’t allowed to have a boyfriend or wear makeup until I was sixteen years old, so for much of high school, I was skinny, underdeveloped, and fresh-faced, looking much younger than I was. I would definitely call it an awkward phase. I was fine with her rules, though, and I didn’t rebel. I wasn’t really interested in having a boyfriend at that age. I had crushes growing up, but I was mostly focused on other things, like dance and the swim team, where I swam the 400-yard freestyle.

My favorite classes in high school were science (especially biology) and art (drawing and painting). At the time, I thought about going to school to become a psychologist. I was always listening to my friends share their problems, giving advice and trying to help. People came to me, so it felt natural to think about ways to turn that into a career. I couldn’t always take my own advice, but my friends appreciated my insightful, nonjudgmental words of wisdom. I’ve always been interested in why people are the way they are. I still think about that sometimes, especially when I’m in the waiting room at an audition looking at all the other girls there. Everyone has their own story and brings something unique to the role. You can take the same script, and ten different women are going to read it ten different ways. That’s always fascinated me.

As soon as we got our driver&…