Former Laguna Beach star Kristin Cavallari has confirmed recent reports that she'll be joining The Hills as a replacement for departing cast member Lauren Conrad.

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Cavallari confirmed she'll be joining The Hills beginning with its May 31 episode that will feature coverage of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt's recent wedding during an interview with Entertainment Weekly -- and isn't hiding the fact that a desire to rekindle her celebrity and boost her nascent acting career is why she decided to join the show.

"The goal for me is to get my fans excited about me again," Cavallari told Entertainment Weekly. "When I first started out, I had a celebrity name but I didn't have the acting skills I have now. If I have some buzz with my name again, I feel like it will only help."

However, Cavallari apparently failed to receive The Hills orientation memo that states that, despite countless evidence indicating otherwise, the show's cast members must continue to insist that no part of the alleged reality series is faked.

"It's a TV show," Cavallari told EW.  "I'm not going into it like, 'I'm going to make great friendships with these people.' It's work! And drama sells. I think that's why they're bringing me in, because I know what works."

"I'm a completely different person than Lauren," Cavallari said.  "I have a lot more energy. I'm more outgoing. I'm a little more spontaneous. And she has a boyfriend so she's not dating on the show. I'm very open to dating and finding a guy."

Cavallari even acknowledged that she wouldn't have a problem letting The Hills' producers "set up situations" regarding her dating life.

"I don't think MTV would be like, 'Oh you're dating him now. This is your boyfriend,'" Cavallari told EW. "But they might try and set up situations. I'm totally cool with that. Again, it's a TV show and they need to make it entertaining."

Cavallari's The Hills run will begin when she  -- completely serendipitously, no doubt -- catches the bouquet at Heidi and Spencer's wedding and will continue through all ten of the additional fifth-season episodes MTV plans to air this fall, according to EW.

The May 31 episode will also be Conrad's last after she announced in February that the show's currently-airing fifth season would be her last season on the show. 

In addition to Cavallari, MTV has previously stated Audrina Patridge, Brody Jenner, Stephanie Pratt, Lauren "Lo" Bosworth, Justin Bobby, and several "fresh faces" will appear in the additional fifth-season episodes.

Cavallari and Conrad first met as students at Laguna Beach High School -- where Cavallari was a junior and Conrad a senior -- and both appeared on Laguna Beach when the MTV reality series premiered in Fall 2004.  However they were weren't close friends, as Cavallari was dating Conrad's childhood friend Stephen Colletti.

Cavallari and Colletti's relationship eventually fizzled.  Ironically, Cavallari then dated Jenner until 2006, which is when Conrad began a coy romantic relationship with him.

While Conrad moved to Los Angeles and appeared in Laguna's The Hills spinoff, Cavallari started acting in the scripted genre with cameos in Veronica Mars and Cane as well as roles in such films as Fingerprints and Spring Breakdown.

She also served as co-host for the UPN reality series Get This Party Started, where she worked with professional party planners to throw bashes for deserving people at significant points in their lives.  The show premiered in January 2006 and was subsequently canceled after airing only two episodes.

In December 2007, it was rumored that The Hills producers were "looking into the possibility" of bringing Cavallari onto the show.  Conrad subsequently denied the rumors.
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