The thirst for nostalgia is real. With streaming platforms like Paramount+ offering an unlimited supply of The Hills, we're all reliving the headbands, the music, and the dramah. But this time around, it's a little different. Fans, through a 2021 lens, have shifted their formerly-glowing opinion of Lauren Conrad. She used to be beloved by pretty much everyone back in the mid 2000s and was MTV's golden goose, but now, according to some rewatchers, Lauren maybe wasn't so great, after all.

According to fans on Twitter and TikTok, Lauren was unsupportive, manipulative, and far too controlling of her friends' decisions during her time on the show. They're saying that Lauren was the villain of her own story, not the tube-top and low-rise jeans-wearing hero we thought she was.

Now, OK, Lauren wasn't perfect by any means, but the villain of The Hills? Lauren? That's taking things too far. Here's why.

Setting Boundaries Doesn't Make Her A Villain

Call me crazy but Lauren Conrad aka The Queen of Kohls taught us how to place boundaries in our lives. We saw this happen a couple of times. Let's start with the time she broke up with longtime boyfriend Jason Wahler when she knew that due to his addiction, she could no longer be that person for him. She drew a boundary and stuck to it until she felt as though Jason was healthy enough to be in her life, as a friend.