Heidi Montag & Spencer Pratt: 'It Took a Tragedy for People to See the Real Us'

Hit hard by the L.A. wildfires, the reality veterans look back on everything they lost — and the wisdom they've gained

- LEANNE ACIZ STANTON

In the aughts, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt were indisputably America's most polarizing couple on television, thanks to their dramatic run on the MTV hit The Hills. Pratt, especially, committed to being a villain, with wild meltdowns and all-out war with fan favorite Lauren Conrad. Off-screen, Montag, now 38, and Pratt, 41, unapologetically leaned into their reputation as fame-seekers, staging eye-roll-worthy photo ops and even releasing the 2009 book How to Be Famous: Our Guide to Looking the Part, Playing the Press, and Becoming a Tabloid Fixture.

That was then. Today, the devastating L.A. wildfires have thrust the pair — parents to Gunner, 7, and Ryker, 2 — into the public eye like never before, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive as they chronicle their harrowing experience. In recent years, Montag and Pratt had been sharing their lives anew on social media and the reboot