|
Heidi Blair Pratt (born Heidi Blair Montag on September 15, 1986) is an American reality television personality and singer. She is known for starring on the former MTV reality series The Hills. At one point, the series, which aired from May 2006 through July 2010, followed the life of her former friend and housemate, Lauren Conrad. Following Conrad's departure, it followed the life of Kristin Cavallari, another friend to Montag.
During the series, Montag began dating former cast member Spencer Pratt. In November 2008, the couple eloped in Mexico, though they later married in the United States in April 2009. In June 2010, Montag filed for legal separation from Pratt.
Montag's first studio album, Superficial, was independently released on January 11, 2010. She is currently working on her sophomore album to be released in the summer of 2010.
Born in Crested Butte, Colorado,[1] Montag moved to California after graduating from high school where she enrolled at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.[2] During freshman orientation, she met Lauren Conrad, who was then a featured cast member on the MTV reality series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.[3] After Montag and Conrad transferred to Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles,[2] Conrad received her own spin-off series The Hills, which premiered on May 31, 2006.[4] Montag was featured in the series sharing an apartment with Conrad while studying at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. She eventually left the Fashion Institute in fall of 2005 when she was hired at Bolthouse Productions.[5] According to Montag, she dropped out because she "did not find the school challenging."[6] Within two years, she was promoted to event planner at Bolthouse, before being fired and then re-hired.[7][8]
Montag appeared in every episode of seasons one and two of The Hills, and appeared in season three, which aired on MTV on August 13, 2007.[9] In the summer of 2006, Montag began dating fellow Hills cast member Spencer Pratt, a former manager of Brody Jenner. Season 2 of The Hills (which aired from January through April 2007) focused on Montag's relationship with Pratt and its effect on her friendship with Conrad and fellow Hills cast member Audrina Patridge. On the Season 2 finale, Montag moved out of her apartment with Conrad to live with Pratt.[10] Although Conrad maintained the two were still friends after Montag moved out,[11] the friendship soon ended when Conrad blamed Montag and Pratt for spreading rumors about a sex tape featuring her and ex-boyfriend Jason Wahler.[12] In December 2008, the pair ended their feud.
In August 2008, Conrad said that The Hills is "definitely reaching its end", citing the privacy pitfalls.[13] Montag and Pratt have expressed an interest in adopting Conrad's lead role and narrator. In a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Montag said "I think that maybe Lauren is tired of [being on the show], but we’re just beginning," and that "We’re not even remotely sick of it." Whereas Pratt stated that, "sometimes the narrator has to throw their hate up on the wall and pass the mic", and expressed an interest in taking The Hills to a tenth season.[14] In April 2009, Montag signed on to appear on the reality series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!.[15] Her appearance on the show, alongside husband Spencer, was criticized after the couple claimed they were subject to torture and left the show's set multiple times before returning and ultimately withdrawing.[16]
Montag went on to star in the sixth and final season of The Hills. However, the fourth episode of the season marked Heidi and Spencer's last appearance in the series. Spencer had threatened to kill a series producer, and was supposed to return to the series after anger management. However, his behavior worsend, which lead to being completely removed from the cast.[17] Montag filed (then later dropped) charges against "The Hills" creator Adam Divello claiming sexual harassment.[18] Montag was not present at The Hills Finale Aftershow on July 13 2010.
Montag announced plans to film a new reality show during the Summer of 2010 with The Hills guest star and friend Jen Bunney.[19] However, Bunney said that plans have changed and is not sure if "Heidi wants to be involved in reality TV at the moment with everything going on in her personal life." However, the show has still been greenlit and multiple networks offered to continue with the series regardless of Heidi's absence.[20]
In November 2008, Montag and Pratt shot scenes for an episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The two appeared as themselves in an episode aired in January 2009.[21] In 2010, Montag was cast in a cameo role in her first feature film, the Adam Sandler comedy Just Go with It.[22]
In February 2007, Montag began working on an album with producer David Foster.[23] It was also reported that she is on a one-song contract with Warner Bros., not a full studio contract as both Montag and her then-fiance Spencer Pratt had claimed.[24]
On August 16, 2007, Ryan Seacrest premiered Montag's song "Body Language", featuring Pratt rapping, on his KIIS-FM radio show. Both Montag and Pratt denied the song was her intended first single, with Pratt telling Us Weekly the tune "was a song Heidi and I were doing for fun. Never would I rap on her first single!"[24] In December 2007, another David Foster-prouduced track sung by Montag entitled "Touch Me" was leaked online.[25]
On February 5, 2008, Montag's first song, "Higher" received an online-only release on iTunes. The song and the video received a negative response from websites and readers across the internet, to which Montag responded, "I appreciate people taking the time to write any comment."[26]
In March 2009, Montag hired songwriter Cathy Dennis to work on her upcoming album.[27] On April 1, 2009, she debuted her new song "Look How I'm Doing" on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM show.[28]
On August 23, 2009, Montag performed "Body Language" during the Miss Universe 2009 pageant in the Bahamas in front of an expected worldwide audience of one billion. The song "Body Language" samples music from the hit "Situation" by Yazoo and it was performed by Montag during the presentation of all delegates in their swimming costumes.[29]
Montag's debut album, Superficial, was digitally released on January 11, 2010. The album sold less than 1,000 copies in its first day,[30] and just over 1,000 copies its first week.[31] During early April of 2010, the album's only single, "Superficial," had a music video released on YouTube. "More Is More" is Montag's only song that managed to chart.
Montag has expressed interest in releasing a Christian music album.[32]
In 2010, Montag confirmed, via her official Twitter account, that she is recording her sophomore album, to be released this summer.[33] In July of the same year, Montag tweeted that she is now writing her own music and had written thirteen songs in one day.
Montag debuted her fashion line, Heidiwood, at a fashion show at the Hollywood and Highland shopping center in Hollywood on April 11, 2008.[34] Shortly after, she promoted her line in New York City, at MTV's TRL, among other places.[35]
Holly Montag is Heidi's older sister by roughly three years, and is also featured on MTV's show The Hills as a supporting role.
In 2005, Montag began dating Jordan Eubanks and met Lauren Conrad.[2] Montag broke off her relationship with Eubanks in the spring of 2006, something she has described as "the best decision of [her] life" and "something that [she] should have done earlier".[5]
In 2006, she began dating Spencer Pratt and in 2007, her friendship with Lauren Conrad ended for unknown reasons. In May 2007, Heidi and Spencer announced their engagement.[36] During The Hills season finale in December 2007, Heidi and Spencer broke off their engagement. During a broadcast of Ryan Seacrest's radio show, Spencer said that he was madly in love with Montag and trying to win her back.[37] On November 20, 2008, Montag and Spencer had a marriage ceremony in Mexico. No family members were present and the wedding ceremony lasted 15 minutes.[38][39] Montag and Pratt married a second time on April 25, 2009 in Pasadena, California.[40] Montag has publicly identified as Christian.[41]
On March 3, 2008, Montag's stepbrother Eric O'Hara was killed in an accident after a fall from an icy roof. O'Hara was a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and served the 82nd Airborne Division.[42]
In an April 2008 interview, Montag said she was a Republican and that she planned to vote for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.[43] At the time, she was not registered to vote, but she said that this was because she had been too busy and that she planned to register soon.[44] On October 15 2008, Heidi and Lauren finally became friends again when they ended their fued at the STK House. [45]. In a later interview, in July 2009, on Alex Jones' radio show, Montag retracted her Republican support and said she no longer believes in the left–right politics paradigm.[46] During the interview Montag cited Jones' documentary The Obama Deception as her reason for changing her political viewpoint.
Heidi and one of her friends from The Hills, Audrina Patridge are mentioned in the 2010 UK number-one single "Pass Out" by Tinie Tempah and Labrinth.
On June 8, 2010, Heidi filed for legal separation from Pratt, listing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their separation. [47] Originally, the couple's split was thought to be a publicity stunt. However, Spencer Pratt later confirmed that while the pair was on friendly terms, the split was not fake. In an interview with People, Pratt said, "We love each other but I'm a famewhore and I'll never grow out of it. [Heidi] knows that and doesn't want that... I want every kind of press. She believes in bad press. There's no way my love for fame and her love for puppies will ever work out successfully. She just wants to hike and hang out and be calmer."[48]
In April 2007, Montag had a breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, and collagen lip injections. At first, she did not confirm this, but after months of speculation and rumors, Montag spoke to Us Weekly about her surgeries in September 2007.[49]
In January 2010, Montag revealed to People magazine that she had ten plastic surgery procedures in one day, done by Dr. Frank Ryan. Among the procedures were brow-lifts, ear-pinnings, a chin reduction, as well as a second rhinoplasty and a second breast augmentation. She revealed that she almost died from too much Demerol, reducing her breath rate to five breaths per minute, but said that it was still worth it.[50]
She later shot a campaign ad with director Ron Howard called "Heidi Montag Says No to Plastic".[51]
|