Kristin Cavallari Says Cutting Her 'Narcissistic Father' Out Was the 'Last Thing I Needed to Do in My Healing Journey’

'The Hills' alum says ceasing contact with her father was “the best thing I’ve done”

Jason Davis/Getty Kristin Cavallari in Nashville in 2024.

Jason Davis/Getty

Kristin Cavallari in Nashville in 2024.
  • Kristin Cavallari looked back on her "partying ways" during an appearance on the Dec. 30 episode of Bunnie XO’s podcast, Dumb Blonde, sharing that she was drinking and smoking pot in eighth grade

  • The reality alum said she was looking for "any kind of connection" due to a turbulent relationship with her "narcissistic father"

  • Cavallari said she's since cut her father out of her life, calling it the "best thing I've ever done"

Kristin Cavallari says that her relationship with her “narcissistic father” led her to experiment with drugs and alcohol at a young age — and cutting him out of her life is “the best thing I’ve done.”

During an appearance on the Dec. 30 episode of Bunnie XO’s podcast, Dumb Blonde, Cavallari, now 37, said “For so long, I was kind of ashamed of my childhood and my partying ways and stuff, and now I just fully embrace it.”

“I started smoking pot in eighth grade. I started drinking. I was sneaking out. I was young,” the Very Cavallari alum said. It was that behavior that led her from the Chicago suburb where she lived with her mother to move in with her father in the beachside California town where she would go on to star in the MTV hit Laguna Beach.

Kristin Cavallari/Instagram Kristin Cavallari shared photos of her father on Instagram.

Kristin Cavallari/Instagram

Kristin Cavallari shared photos of her father on Instagram.

Related: How Kristin Cavallari Has Found 'Peace' 8 Years After Her Brother's Sudden Death: 'We Know Mike Is Good'

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The Uncommon James founder said that her boyfriend at the time would “drive his golf cart over to my house and pick me up,” saying they were “just animals.”

“I've got taken home by the cops in eighth grade. It's, like, all your typical stuff … ditching school,” she said, saying she was drawn to “that group of kids” because “I had a lot of of trauma.”

“My escape was to start drinking and doing drugs, and the only way I found a connection was with my boyfriend. I didn't have a connection at home. And so that was where I found it was with my boyfriend and through all of my friends.”

When Bunnie asked, ”Was it just a rough relationship with the parents?” Cavallari explained, “My dad is a narcissist. Typical narcissist.”

MTV Kristin Cavallari (center) with the cast of MTV's
MTV Kristin Cavallari (center) with the cast of MTV's "Laguna Beach."

Related: Kristin Cavallari Gets Candid on Why Co-Parenting with Ex Jay Cutler Is 'Really Hard': 'It's a Bumpy Road'

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“There's so many layers to it. It's so complicated…. It really is disgusting,” said Cavallari, who moved in with her father when she was a high school freshman. “I actually cut my dad out of my life a couple years ago, which is the best thing I've ever done, quite honestly. “

“I had a narcissistic dad growing up, and then parents' divorce, stepfamilies, some sexual trauma with a couple different guys in my life, and just, you know, just like one thing after another,” she said, explaining that she was “just looking for any kind of connection, an outlet as well. So that was why I went down the path that I did.”

Going no contact with her father, The Hills alum said, was “the last thing I needed to do in my healing journey” — although she did worry she was going to have “bad karma” from severing ties with her father.

“I actually had a medium say to me, she was like, ’No, actually, that was what you came to do in this lifetime, was to be able to stand up for yourself and set boundaries and cut him out of your life.’ “

“That made me feel so much better. Just validated everything,” she said. And these days, “I'm about to turn 38, and I finally feel like I'm in a good place with everything and have a good handle on it.”

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