She's come a long way since her Laguna Beach days, and now Kristin Cavallari, 27, has opened up toOprah Winfrey about how difficult it was for her to be a part of the popular reality show at such a young age.

"[It] was tough," she said. "I still to this day think you should have to be 18 to be on reality TV."

Kristin, who's now married and a mother of two, appeared on the show when she was only 16. She admits she felt very "used" and "manipulated" by MTV producers, who would often create dramatic scenarios just for ratings. Often times, she was pitted against narrator Lauren Conrad, who fought for the attention of her then boyfriend, Stephen Colletti.

"Basically my boyfriend at the time, the producers would have him go and take out Lauren Conrad, take her to dinner, bring her flowers, which never would've happened if it wasn't for the show, for MTV," she said.

Although it was exciting to star in a successful MTV series at such a young age, the reality star wasn't exactly pleased by how she was portrayed. Due to her tough exterior and some clever editing, Kristin was quickly labeled as the villain of the group.

"I felt like they were really trying to take advantage of me. It was a really difficult time, and then when I saw it air, and saw the way that they represented me, I was really, really upset. I cried for hours and hours after I saw the first episode. It was hard, it was really hard," she admitted.