When fans of The Hills weren't investing their time in arguing over whether or not they were Team Heidi or Team Lauren, they were probably talking about Heidi Montag and her mom, Darlene Egelhoff. They definitely didn't have the healthiest relationship and as the hit MTV series portrayed, it was largely due to Heidi's husband, Spencer Pratt. The same can't be said now, because as illustrated on Lifetime's The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition and as Heidi tells Bustle, her relationship with her mom is infinitely better compared to when they were still appearing on The Hills.
"I think it's been a life-changing experiment and experience for my mom and I," Heidi says about her time on the show. "We were able to talk about things that we would normally just sweep under the rug in order to move forward. I think that it was really important and necessary for us to have these heartfelt, deep conversations to be able to move forward once and for all. I am really thankful for this opportunity and I think it's been really good for us."
For those unaware, the Lifetime series is a chance for famous mothers and daughters to sit down with therapist Dr. Debbie Magids and talk about any problems with their relationships. In addition to Heidi and Darlene, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star Kim Richards and her daughter, Kimberly Jackson, also appear on the show, in addition to four other mother/daughter duos.
Before deciding to join the reality series, Heidi says she hesitated to the point where she even turned down the offer. After being asked about why she ended up doing another reality show (she's starred in The Hills, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, Celebrity Wife Swap, and Celebrity Big Brother), Heidi explains,
This one was a great opportunity for my mom and I to get some healing and to have some conversations and things to move forward from our past, which was existing on reality TV. At first I said no, because I didn't want anything to affect our relationship. Then, we really talked about it and found out more about the therapist and 495 is such a great production company, as well, so I knew that I would be in good hands.
That said, Heidi admits she was scared before filming began, but says it all worked out in the end. "I was really fearful going into the show, because I know it's real and everything that you go through is really challenging to do anyways," she says. "Then, you add camera and crew and other mothers and daughters and doing it publicly, I was very nervous about it. So, I'm very surprised at the outcome and I'm really surprised at how amazing Dr. Debbie was and how instrumental she was in my relationship with my mom."
Prior to joining Lifetime's latest reality series, at one point in time Heidi and Darlene were estranged for over two years and never really worked out their problems. Now that they've been coming face to face and actually addressing their issues with one another, Heidi is extremely thankful.
"I think it's really how my mom and I can move forward," Heidi says of the best part about joining The Mother/Daughter Experiment. She continues,
That's why I was really there, to be able to have a deeper, more meaningful relationship with my mom. We were able to hash feelings from the past and realized that we need to move forward in a more adult mother/daughter relationship and not a child mother/daughter relationship, which is what I was having trouble with my mom. I wasn't really able to relay it to her that way, so Dr. Debbie certainly helped us to put that in perspective.
It certainly sounds like Heidi and Darlene have a come long way. To see their journey, check out The Mother/Daughter Experiment Fridays at 10 p.m. on Lifetime.
Image: Karolina Wojtasik/Lifetime (2)
