the truth behind your heidi montag letters!

A lot of you wrote in wondering why in the world we chose to put The Hills resident bad girl Heidi Montag on the cover of CosmoGIRL!'sOctober issue. Many of you questioned our judgment because you didn't feel she was an appropriate role model for the magazine.

You called her "mean," "spiteful," "not real," "plastic and fake," "a bad influence," and felt she had "trashed her best friend" and "ditched her other friends for a sleazy boyfriend." All of your comments are fair and understandable, given the 24 minutes of weekly backstabbing, self-absorbed behavior and personal drama that defines the lives of Lauren, Audrina, Whitney, Heidi, and Spencer, and has made The Hills the juiciest reality show in TV history.

But try to put your Heidi hatred and hostility aside for just a minute and give us a chance to explain. The story of The Hills is about Lauren Conrad and told purely from her point of view: an ex-Laguna Beach, California, golden girl innocently trying to tread through Hollywood's shark-infested waters, while juggling work, school, fame, guys, friends, and a fair amount of partying.

Amazingly too, regardless of each week's battles, betrayals, and backstabbing, Lauren somehow always emerges unscathed, or at worst, an innocent victim. The thing is, there are usually two sides to every story, but since this is Lauren's show (let's not forget both LAUREN and THE HILLS were spun off from Laguna Beach), what we watch each week is Lauren's take on Heidi, Spencer, and their and her behavior. That's where Heidi — and the admittedly sometimes sleazy Spencer — get a raw deal.

Let's not forget that in season one, Heidi never came off like the cunning and calculating witch she seemed to morph into after hooking up with Spencer in season two. In fact, it really wasn't until last season, when they officially became reality TV's most despised couple, that ratings began to soar. The nastier and more vicious they appeared each week (thanks to very deliberate editing and scripted scenes that purposely cast them as conniving and contemptible), the more stratospheric the ratings.

Just like Lauren was cast as The Hills's fresh-faced good girl, Heidi and Spencer (or as one of our very clever readers coined them, "Speidi") were cast as the conniving couple and the objects of Lauren's hurt and hatred — lending a whole other irresistible layer of vicious behavior and catty fighting to the show.

In real life, Heidi is not that different from you or any one of her Hills counterparts. When she's not working on the show, she's hard at work in the studio, practicing, writing, and recording songs for her upcoming album, in the hope of making it as a musical artist. She has hopes, dreams, and ambitions outside of The Hills.

You purposely don't get to see that side of her, though. If you did, it just might make you think she's more than the icy, aloof, and malicious girl who cruelly dumped her best friend for some slimy guy. Just keep in mind that she's paid to play the bad girl, and that there's a whole team of MTV producers and editors calling the shots from behind the scenes and editing hundreds of hours of footage down to 24 minutes that are guaranteed to create the kind of tension, battle lines, and emotions that keep you tuning in each week.

Two ex-best friends battling it out in front of millions of viewers makes for good TV. You may have liked Heidi better in season one, when she and Lauren were inseparable and the best friends ever, but let's be honest, did you think the show was as good then as it is now?

And even though I'm not a big fan of plastic surgery and I don't know why Heidi felt she needed to get a new nose and set of breasts, I don't think it's fair to define her as "fake" or "plastic" just because of that. Maybe it just made her feel better about herself, and if it did, then good for her. Like it or not, plenty of your favorite actresses have had plastic surgery — they're just in the more fortunate position of NOT living their lives under the scrutiny of cameras 24/7, so they can keep those little secrets under wraps.

All I'm saying is that it's not fair to judge a book by its cover. I just wish everyone would cut Heidi a little slack. Just imagine if you and your best friend got into some huge fight, and for whatever reason, you were never allowed to tell your side of the story, but your friend could, and everyone believed her. How would you feel?

Let us know what you think! And keep the letters coming!


Special Projects Director

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