Where Is Jen Bunney Today?

I re-watch The Hills every summer, mostly because summer TV is severely lacking but also because The Hills is freakin' ADDICTIVE. Seriously, just try watching one episode of MTV's pseudo-unscripted series and tell me that you didn't waste an entire day watching the Heidi/Lauren/Spencer feud unfold. You can't, because it's not physically possible. However, The Hills ended in 2010 and with it our knowledge of the private lives of some of the show's cast members. Sure, we all stalk Lauren Conrad's Instagram on the daily (wait, we all do that, right?!) but we may not know as much about what some of the recurring characters are doing today — like, for example, Jen Bunney. What is LC's childhood friend doing today? You may be surprised to find out just who she's palling around with in 2014.

For those of you who don't remember Bunney, here's the lowdown. Bunney was a childhood pal of Conrad's who made several appearances on the original rich kid reality show Laguna Beach, which followed Conrad and her peers throughout high school. She later made multiple appearances on the spinoff series The Hills, in which she, for lack of a better term, stirred shit up. A lot.

Now, I live in actual reality — the reality totally separate from the manufactured, heavily edited "reality" of shows like The Hills — so I know that Bunney probably wasn't as awful in real life as the show depicted her as being. But the show was keen on making her a somewhat villainous figure, positioning her as the girl who "stole" Brody Jenner away from Conrad by hooking up with him at her 21st birthday party, and the girl who later tried to convince Conrad that it was Jenner himself who spread rumors about Conrad's sex tape with her ex-boyfriend, Jason Wahler. Bunney played the role of the attention-grabbing friend that no one felt particularly at ease with, which probably wasn't fair to her as an actual person. (But hey, that's show biz, right?)

So what is Bunney doing today? Gone are the days of fighting over boys at bars. Bunney is far smarter than her time on The Hills would suggest. According to her LinkedIn page, Bunney has a Bachelor's Degree in Neuroscience from the University of Southern California and a Masters in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University. And, because she's such an overachiever, the former reality star is currently working on a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley. She is expected to receive the degree in 2015.

You might be surprised to learn that she's still hanging out with one of her pals from The Hills — and no, it's not Conrad. Bunney is still friends with Heidi and Spencer Pratt, whom she befriended during her time on reality TV. When Bunney wed her longtime boyfriend Taylor Dunphy in August of 2014, it was the Pratts who were by her side. According to Heidi's interview with Us Weekly, Bunney has been her "best friend" for years. Bunney even appeared on Pratt's hour-long reality special After Shock: Heidi & Spencer in 2013.

And what does Bunney look like now? The former reality star is as gorgeous as ever in her Instagram pics, though you may not recognize her without her signature dark hair.

Images: longjonathans/tumblr; Getty Images; jenniferbunney/Instagram