Kristin Cavallari is looking back on one of the hardest chapters of her life and saying she would not rewrite it. The “Hills” alum made rare, candid comments about her divorce from former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler, explaining that the pain pushed her into real growth.
On a recent episode of her “Let’s Be Honest” podcast, Cavallari said she spent years trying not to feel much of anything. She described herself as the “tough girl” type who pushed emotions away and insisted she was fine, even when she was not. But during her divorce, she decided to stop running.
“This is the first time in my life I wanna feel it all,” she recalled, saying she wanted to experience “the good, the bad, the ugly” and actually sit with the pain, per Page Six. Cavallari said the suffering helped shape the person she is now and made her believe that hard times can serve a purpose. “There is beauty in pain and we need the dark to appreciate the light,” she said.
From Fairytale Headlines to a Reality Check
Cavallari and Cutler’s relationship played out publicly for years, but the timeline was not as simple as it looked.
The two first connected in 2010, got engaged in 2011, briefly split, then reunited and got engaged again later that year, according to People. They welcomed their first child, son Camden, in 2012 and married in Nashville in June 2013. Two more kids followed: son Jaxon in 2014 and daughter Saylor in 2015. The family later settled down in Nashville after time spent in Chicago and a brief stint in Florida.
Even as they were building a life and raising three kids, Cavallari later acknowledged they had been dealing with issues behind the scenes for years. In April 2020, they announced they were divorcing after 10 years together, calling it “a loving conclusion” and saying they had grown apart. Their divorce was finalized in 2022, and the split continued to generate headlines as they publicly disputed settlement terms, per Page Six.
Cavallari has also been honest about how complicated the post-split chapter can be. In 2024, she described co-parenting as “really hard” and compared it to a “bumpy road.”
Moving Forward and Living Her Best Life
These days, Cavallari appears focused on work, motherhood and enjoying her freedom. She recently traveled to Los Angeles for what looked like a fun reset with friends, including a night out at Nobu, according to the Daily Mail. She also used the trip to promote her Uncommon James jewelry brand, sharing that “LA brings out the many sides to my personality.”
On the dating front, Cavallari has kept things light and selective. She briefly dated TikTok personality Mark Estes in 2024 before the two split after seven months. She has also said her dating life picked back up after a slow stretch.
Still, Cavallari made it clear that the biggest shift was internal. Instead of pretending she is fine, she is letting herself feel life as it comes, even when it is messy. “The good, the bad, the ugly, I wanna feel the pain. I wanna sit in it,” she said.
