Could one grainy, seemingly innocuous picture of old friends hanging out cause the entire world wide web to explode? If it includes Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti, it just might.
On August 4, Cavallari, one of the stars of the ultra popular '00s MTV reality shows Laguna Beach and The Hills, posted a photo to her Instagram of herself with Stephen Colletti, her ex-boyfriend and OG Laguna Beach cast member. The caption reads "2004 or 2020?!"
This isn't any old former flame — Colletti is in the pantheon of reality TV exes, as the he was boy who sparked the famous rift between Lauren Conrad and Cavallari on the show, way back in 2004.
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Colletti and Cavallari dated for about four years in high school, but it always seemed like there was something between him and Conrad. Cavallari revealed later in her book, Balancing in Heels, that producers pressured Colletti to explore something more with Conrad, which she said "certainly provided some juicy conflicts, but it also affected me deep. I felt threatened."
The two went their separate ways after Laguna Beach. Colletti appeared on one 2008 episode of The Hills titled "A Date With the Past" to see if he and Conrad could make it work (nope), and then went on to act in a few TV movies and One Tree Hill. Cavallari stuck around the reality TV scene, appearing in The Hills, ABC's Dancing with the Stars and later, as the star of the 2018 E! show Very Cavallari, which focused on her fashion and lifestyle brand, Uncommon James. In 2013, she wed former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, with whom she has three kids. The couple went through a rather messy divorce in April 2020.
Fresh off a divorce and now photographed with her ex? We have questions.
Unfortunately for fans relishing the thought of the two getting back together, TMZ reported that they've simply "remained good friends," and that "Kristen was down in Laguna to visit Colletti and Alex Murrel," who also starred on the reality series. For now, fans can just enjoy this lovely, poorly-lit throwback to simpler times of early aughts drama.