Exclusive: It was 2006 when Heidi Montag was first plastered across millions of televisions across the world. The small-town girl from Colorado was sunbaking by the pool at her new LA apartment, waiting for her best friend Lauren Conrad to arrive.
No-one could have predicted this would propel Heidi and her cast to superstardom in the way that it did, but The Hills was an instant ratings juggernaut – and in the 18 years since, Heidi went on to marry her co-star Spencer Pratt, welcome two little boys into the world and forge her own music career.
But with all that attention, Heidi tells 9honey Celebrity, also came a "ruthless, awful and disturbing" reality.
Watch the video above.
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Reality star, pop singer and mum: Why Heidi Montag is proof you can be all three. (Graphic: Polly Hanning)Heidi tells 9honey Celebrity her most important role is being a mother and her biggest "priority" will always be her children, whom she shares with Spencer – but that has also brought with it a whole new level of criticism from trolls online.
"That is my full-time job and focus, being a mum, I'm there for pickup, drop off, I'm with my kids all day and we make a joke I'm super mum by day and super pop star by night," she says with a laugh.
"They're very different worlds I'm living, but my priority is my kids and always will be.
Heidi explains she's turned down jobs because at this point she's "not willing to leave them when they're so young".
"I try hard to be there for everything. I'm the soccer mum, the karate mum..."
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The mother-of-two tells 9honey Celebrity that her most important role is being a mum. (Heidi Montag Instagram)"There's few hours a day I'm in the studio or a performance, but really almost 24 hours a day, that's my dedication, joy and my love. They will never be little again and I don't want to have regrets about not being there," she says.
Speaking about the mum-shaming she receives, Heidi says it's got to stop.
"They're very different worlds I'm living, but my priority is my kids and always will be.""I just think people are out of line in general on comment sections and on the internet," she explains.
"I think there's an unacceptable language and when I look at other people's comment sections, it's kind of across the board people being really ruthless, awful and disturbing."
'They will never be little again and I don't want to have regrets about not being there,' she says. (Heidi Montag Instagram)"So I figured, I'm either going to turn comments off or go back at them because I wouldn't let somebody speak like that to me in person. And they wouldn't," she says.
She muses: "I wonder if you're going on Beyoncé's page and saying that, or Christina Aguilera's page and saying that?
"They're also wearing sexy outfits and clothes and dancing and doing similar things that I am... but I think people are projecting themselves."
While Heidi is aware of some of this negative attention, her focus is firmly fixed on the people in her inner circle and only cares about their opinions.
"And at the end of the day, I'm going to follow my own heart, and do what I want to do and be who I want to be because if I listened to haters and people, I wouldn't have been successful or done anything!" she insists.
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'I only care what my mum, husband, friends and people in my actual life say,' she insists. (Heidi Montag Instagram)That determination, confidence and drive has always been instilled in Heidi.
"I've always been so independent, [when people would say] 'Spencer is guiding her,' I was like, absolutely not, no-one can tell Heidi what to do!" she says with a laugh.
"I've always done what I wanted, even in school I would get in trouble for that... For me it was important to have my own voice and be, like, this is what I'm doing and I don't care what anyone thinks."
Spencer has always been her "biggest supporter". The pair, who were famously dubbed Speidi, have been together for 18 years and married for 16 and together have navigated the spotlight.
Husband Spencer she says, has always been her 'biggest supporter' and they've 'always been a team'. (Penske Media via Getty Images)"That's always been one of our strengths: really knowing what we go through and going through so much together. Some couples don't work well together but we do and it's strengthened our relationship to thrive over the years," she says.
"We've always been a team and work through things together – through parenting, marriage and careers."
As for that career, Heidi released album Superficial in 2010 which featured tracks including I'll Do It, recently celebrated reaching 1.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and is releasing new music such as Scandalous, Fashion (originally recorded by Lady Gaga), and two Christmas tracks.
The Hills cast: Then and now
"Recently with a resurgence, I thought maybe I'm just getting started in a new chapter," she says.
"The new music is definitely different, each song is really different and I'm not doing a type of genre... I'm not putting myself in any type of box."
She adds, "I'm a mum, I am older but I have a sexier side, an alter ego, the kids go to bed and I'm still a person at the end of the day.
"So it's nice to tap into the different version of myself."
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