If you grew up watching The Hills, you know the name Heidi Montag. But the woman sitting down with Tay Lautner is someone most people haven’t met yet.
She’s been married to Spencer Pratt for over 17 years, raising two boys, and in January 2025, they lost their family home in the Palisades fire.
Then something no one saw coming happened. The album the internet dismissed 15 years ago suddenly went to #1 on iTunes worldwide—and the pop star moment she’d been chasing since she was eight years old showed up in the middle of the hardest chapter of her life.
On The Squeeze, she opens up about all of it. Here are the highlights, adapted from the episode.
Heidi Montag Says She Was Always Meant for More Than Reality TV
Was music always what you wanted to do?
“When I was younger, I always wanted to be a pop star. Like, I would listen to Madonna when I was eight years old and my headphones walking around, Mariah Carey, and I would love to sing. And my mom put me in voice lessons when I was like seven or eight and was always so supportive of my dreams. But I wanted to be in Hollywood. I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be successful. And my mom would drive me to acting classes like three hours each way in Aspen because we didn’t live near Aspen, but that’s where they were…I always felt destined for Hollywood.”
Did being on reality TV at such a young age affect your sense of self?
“I felt like I had lived so much before and I was always so confident in my own skin. I’m very independent. I’m going to do what I want and I’m going to say what I want and I’m going to be who I want. So, it really allowed me to step into myself…it wasn’t just about like, great, I’m on The Hills right now and this is it. It’s like, great, I’m on The Hills right now and I’m going to be a pop star and I’m going here and I’m going to go there…and I met the love of my life.”
How have you and Spencer navigated your relationship being so public?
“We never really looked to the public for any validation. It was more of the opposite. I’m kind of a rebel. Spencer’s kind of a rebel. We both have that streak in us a little bit…it is hard and it’s about even if you disagree or whatever, communicating and coming together and figuring out how do we move forward and having the hard conversations. Nobody ever wants to do that. But you have to do that and you have to really be able to speak your own heart and truth and trust the other person with that…be your own advocate and make sure you’re getting your needs met. And if they’re not, you need to say, ‘Hey, I need this from you.’”
How has your journey with grief been since losing your home?
“They say it takes a year for grief to really settle in your brain and your body and everything. And that’s so true…I cried on the way over here thinking about it. Just thinking about you work so hard for everything in your home and you love everything in your home and it’s so curated. Your childhood things and just your children’s things and their little clay pots they bring home and just stuff you can’t get back. Things you can’t buy back…there was just such a fake narrative about everyone’s rebuilding and everything’s great. And it’s like, you’re just lying. And that is so disturbing…there were like over 7,000 houses that burned down and there’s only been under 20 that have been able to start rebuilding.”
How are your boys processing everything?
“I’m focused on my three-year-old saying he’s going to push our house back up. He still says that every day and he says like, ‘Oh, that hummingbird’s house burned down or that duck’s house burned down.’ Everything is about houses burning down. He’s three and he thinks it’s somehow his responsibility to push our house back up and he’s like, ‘I can do it, Mom. I’m strong enough. Let’s go back. I’ll push our house up.’ And so it’s about helping them through it and talking through it, too, and wanting them to feel those emotions and being able to have those conversations.”
What role has music played in getting you through this?
“The music really got me through all of this. It gave me an outlet. It gave me a focus. It gave me a goal. It took me out of a dark mode. It took me out of just being in mom mode. It took me out of just being in survival mode…to be able to perform and having people cheering when I’m going out there and all these crowds and it just gave me such a light and it just made me be like, ‘Okay, everything’s going to be okay.’ And I just felt so supported for the first time in my career.”
What do you want people to take away from your story?
“It’s never too late to have a dream come true. I thought like, ah, that’s never going to happen. I’m too old. The moment’s gone. All my dreams are gone. But it’s like, no, that’s not true. You never know what life has around the corner. And don’t give up on your dreams and keep pursuing them. And you’re never too old for something to transpire or something to happen. So, you never know the next chapter that is ahead.”
Listen to the full episode on The Squeeze, available wherever you listen to podcasts.
