I got into Cal for the spring semester and just took my first college midterm yesterday. It’s so different here than in Orange County. People at school don’t really recognize me from The Real Housewives of Orange County, but at home or in Los Angeles, people will interrupt my dinner to ask if they can have their picture taken with me.

That’s so funny to me. I could understand it if they recognized me for being an actor and because they admired my talent, but to want a picture just because they see me being myself on reality TV? It’s weird in that respect.

Then again, I’m a very open person, and if someone wants to listen, I’ll tell them about my whole life. I lived in Japan for a year when I was a baby and my dad was playing baseball there, but other than that, Coto is the only life I’ve known.

Life Behind The Gates

The show paints it as a very exclusive, sheltered life, but my two best friends don’t live, quote-unquote, “inside the gates.” My boyfriend doesn’t live “inside the gates.” He lives inside some gates, but not those gates. (laughs) I don’t feel disconnected from people outside Coto or from the rest of America.

When I say I live in Coto de Caza, people do automatically say, “Oh, so you have money.” That’s not necessarily true. It’s a beautiful place to live and a great place to raise a family, but it’s not this crazy Newport type of lifestyle. It’s a lot more family-oriented.

Desperate Housewives?

Some people compare our lives to Desperate Housewives, but we’re not that dramatic. Sure, the housewives of Coto are catty like the characters on Desperate Housewives, but I think women in general are catty.

There are also things that happen in our lives that don’t make it onto the show, which could be on Desperate Housewives. I think everyone has those little things in their lives that could be a TV show.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

The show portrays us all as extremely competitive. I like my things, but I don’t feel pressured to have a better car than my friends or anything like that.

I may envy people sometimes, but it’s never about "one-upping" someone. I don’t think it’s about competition for other people in my community either, but maybe I’m just naïve.

Then there’s the whole thing about cosmetic surgery that gets played up a lot. My attitude about it is that if it gives someone more confidence, I am all for it. If putting something in your lips makes you feel more sexy, you go girl! The only time it’s bad is when it’s destroying your self-confidence…when you think you need that to be beautiful.

I’m too young for botox, although my mom has said that I make all these crazy expressions with my face when I talk and I’m going to give myself wrinkles. Every time I scrunch my nose, my mom goes, “Botox! Botox! Botox!”

Making The Cut

We actually have no say over how we’re portrayed or what ends up on TV. If we don’t want something extremely personal in our lives to be aired, we don’t let the cameras see.

Recently I went through a break up with the guy I’d been dating for four years. That was really ripe when it happened and I didn’t want America or whoever else watches to sit there and dissect it. What you give ‘em is what they can put on, so if it’s too personal, we don’t give it to them. Sometimes things just come out of your mouth and you’re like, “Oh crap.”

Looking To The Future

People have given me advice about distancing myself from the TV show, on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve heard that if I want to be serious about acting, then I should distance myself from it so people don’t think of me solely as a reality TV star.

Other people say I could use Real Housewives of Orange County to have my own reality show, which is sort of scary.

People like to see success, but they also like to see failure. They want to see a roller coaster in front of them, and I didn’t want to be on a reality show just by myself because then I’d have to provide that drop along with the rise. Either way, reality TV just puts people out there into the world and makes people pay attention.

I’ve spent so much time with schooling that I want to see how far I can go in it and hopefully use it. I’d sort of feel like I wasted my life sitting in a desk if I didn’t do something with it. Studying abroad always seemed like a cool idea to me too, but then I’ve seen all those movies like Hostel, and I get scared somebody’s going to murder me in Europe.

Coming Of Age In The Limelight

I think if I can grow up to be as beautiful a person as my mom, then I’ll be happy. I am a lot like my mom. She didn’t drink until she was 21, and I think that has a lot to do with why I don’t drink. I see my mom as someone who’s classy. She doesn’t do embarrassing things; she’s just a good person. I hope I can be as selfless as her. Right now I’m still selfish…I’m just a stupid teenager.

My mom always told me I would never be happy if I was a psychologist because I wouldn’t make enough money, and she knows I love to shop.

I don’t know. I love to shop, but I pretty much only shop when I’m bored. If I was happy with what I was doing, then I don’t feel like I’d need it. Then again, my mom knows me better than I know myself, so maybe I do need a job that can bring home the “chedda.”

The Playboy Family

Playboy asked my mom and me to pose together and I said no. That is the final decision on that. I wish that I was the type of person that could do that, but I just can’t imagine my high school teacher and the rest of the world seeing me naked.

I’ve always envied that my mom is part of the Playboy family. When you go to the Playboy mansion, they just make you feel so welcome, and Mr. Hefner is so sweet. Every girl is so important; they send them presents at Christmas.

The mansion isn’t all crazy like you think it is; it’s just a beautiful place and all the animals are really fun…they have monkeys. I wish I could have that family aspect without taking off my clothes. At least I get to say, “My mom was a playmate,” and feel like I’m part of it.

Growing Pains

It’s sort of hard to be away from my mom right now. She tries to shelter me, so she doesn’t tell me anything that might upset me. In one episode I said that our family shows its love by buying each other things, but I think that’s bull. I take it back. We have different crew now who doesn’t prompt us to say stupid things. It was my fault though; I was young. As my mom says, you don’t know what you want when you’re 18 or 19 years old.

Backlash With Benefits

In the first season, the backlash was bad. That’s because I acted like a little spoiled brat because I thought that’s what I was supposed to act like.

People don’t attack me as much as they do the other people on the show. The things that they say are horrible, and I don’t know how people sleep at night after saying such horrible things.

If you go to the Bravo blog and look up any of the housewives, someone has said something negative about every single person. People are just heartless when they get to be anonymous and not take any responsibility.

The most positive thing to come out of the show is that people want to do your hair for free. I love that because I love to change my hair. Right now it’s really dark…almost black. I’ve been dying my hair since third grade. I like going dark in Orange County because there are a lot of blondes there and I feel like it made me stand out. Up at Cal, there are no blonde girls and it kind of makes me miss my blonde hair. I like to stand out.

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