Does Lauren Conrad regret her time on Laguna Beach?

Lauren Conrad rules an empire that includes fashion lines, a lifestyle blog and nine books, including her latest, the etiquette and party-planning guide, Celebrate. But she first shot to stardom as a teenager on MTV’s hit reality show Laguna Beach.

With fame came some challenges: Her high-school love triangle played out on national TV, and she became known as The Girl Who Didn’t Go to Paris (though she later put her career first and made it to the City of Lights) on The Hills.

So does she ever regret her start on the small screen?

“I’m sure in moments,” Conrad, 30, told Taylor Strecker during a SiriusXM Leading Ladies special that premiered Wednesday morning. “Looking back now, I mean, it’s so easy once it’s all over with to be like, no, it was great, it was all worth it. I’m sure when things were more difficult and I was younger I was definitely kind of wishing I didn’t, but not now.”

When it came to Conrad’s big break, it turns out her father knew best. The Paper Crown designer described herself as “socially awkward” and admitted she hesitated when the MTV camera crew came knocking at Laguna High.

“I was a senior, I was getting ready to go to art school after that, and they showed up at our school and this sort of fell into our lap — obviously not part of the plan,” she explained. “I’ve always been a more shy person, so I was like, oh, I don’t know if I want to do television. And actually my father was the first one to say, if you want to work in the fashion industry, there’s a lot of similarities, this could actually be a good opportunity for you to meet some people, you should consider it. And so I did.”

As for her role models, Conrad said she was inspired by a female producer on the series and, during her Teen Vogue internship on The Hills, editor Lisa Love.

“She got it done. People loved her, but they listened to her, they respected her and they were a little afraid of her,” she said with a laugh. “And as I continued my career I was working at companies that were run by women, and it was so great. It was such a nice environment to be in.”

Listen to the full interview on SiriusXM Stars (Ch. 109). Celebrate is on shelves now.