LadyGang - Stephen Colletti QUICKIE: One Tree Hill, MTV and his real life love story

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

It's round 2 with Stephen Colletti! Stephen opens up about his journey from MTV fame to scripted TV, what One Tree Hill really meant to him, and how navigating fame at a young age shaped who he is today, on screen and off. We talk about growing up in the public eye, the pressure of being labeled a “heartthrob,” and what it was like transitioning from reality TV on MTV to becoming a serious actor on One Tree Hill. Stephen also gets real about love, sharing the story of how he found his person, what finally felt different this time around, and how real life romance compares to the ones we all shipped on TV. We have deals for YOU!!Tonal: Get stronger with Tonal! Get $200 off your purchase with code LADY at Tonal.comWillie's Remedy+: Nursing a hangover? Order at DrinkWillies.com and use code LG for 20% off of your first order! PLUS free shipping on orders over $95!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Without our favorite foods, we'd miss out on all our favorite moments. Learn more at canadasfoodsystem.ca. It's time for a quickie. Podcast One presents The Lady Gang, The Hollywood Girl Posse. With Lady Gang Quickie, here's Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek. Let's make this quick. all right we're back with steven coletti we this is steven week here at lady gang so we're using you for all of our episodes because we love you so much i i do want to you know so obviously if

you haven't listened on tuesday we talked all about traders but now i want to talk about life post laguna pre-traders what happened in between there there was a lot of discussion when you came on Traders as to why they chironed you One Tree Hill and not Laguna Beach. I mean, you're equally famous for both. I mean, I think One Tree Hill is also incredibly iconic. Was that a decision you made because you're like, I'm still acting. I'm doing acting like I don't want the reality show title because people were like gasping online about this fact. I know that the reaction was was unexpected for sure. And I wish, I wish I had known when we were discussing it. Cause you know, you're filling out some information about yourself when, when you're getting on the

show for them. And you know, it just said like, what's your most recent recognizable credit. And I was like, sweet, everyone is doing great. Now I understand a lot of people have no idea what everyone is doing great, but the last 10 years of my life, it's, it's been pretty significant to me. And, and so I'm like, we're going to, we're just going to say everyone is doing great. And like, how funny is that? It's going to say my name and then everyone is doing great, which is just kind of hilarious in its own right. Having that name under your title in a murder mystery. Um, and then yet they pulled me aside. They're like, all right, so, um, we need something a little more recognizable. Uh, you know, what do you think, uh, between, uh, Laguna

beach or one tree hill? So they put the decision on me and I was like, all right, well, um, let's just go with the most recent. And to me, what I thought would have been more recognizable just because there's more episodes and it was around i understand laguna's place for sure but um yeah i thought maybe we'd be casting a wider net with one tree hill i was wrong i i do stand by the decision to take to put one tree hill um but uh yeah the fact that people were offended by not having laguna i mean i feel like i should just wear a laguna beach t-shirt to the reunion now or something i was talking to the producer i was like can we put it underneath you know uh when when they show me the reunion yeah yeah wait okay so how do you and jack know each other

jack so you were friends um with uh an ex of mine i mean this is back in like 2010 or 11 um chelsea kane who i dated oh my god yes right but then we did meet at box eight right wait wait box eight now i don't remember this box eight was that place downtown it was like kind of like an Andy Warhol sort of like warehouse space. Interesting. I mean, this, this sounds like my 2008 to 2012, but I can't remember that particular place, but it's, yeah, it's ringing a bell. I swear you had to have been there, but yes, Chelsea Cain, that makes sense. That would be our connecting person. Yep. Yep. I think we were at your house one time. I think you might have had a house party, maybe a Halloween party or something. Yeah. It was a great time. I remember

that. Isn't it so crazy? Like I can barely remember my early 20s because I was always literally so blacked out drunk, but that would make sense. Same, same. Okay. So Stephen, back to One Tree Hill. Stephen, One Tree Hill. What was it like the lore of going from reality to scripted? Like no one at that point had really done that. And now people go reality to scripted all the time, a reality to a different show, a reality to Broadway. But at the time, it was like Hollywood was not interested in you if you had been on a reality show. Yeah. I'll never forget that first acting class that I walked into. And they sit you down in front of the class and they want you to explain everything about yourself. And people are

asking questions. And they can ask anything. They just keep going and going. And I'm already reluctant to share the, the MTV reality show of it all, uh, in this environment, but of course it went there, um, very fast. And, and, you know, I, I was hyper aware of that, you know, the stigma to reality TV at that time. And, and of course looked down upon, it was, you know, going to be the deathbed of the art for scripted. Um, and you know, I understood it, you know, there was a lot of, obviously when you've got something that's already hard to get gigs in the industry and there's only so many opportunities. And then, you know, now media is being, you know, there's this overwhelming wave of, of just unscripted coming in. Um, people are going to be upset about it and,

and I get it. Um, and so it just, I knew it was going to be tough, but for me, again, it's, I'm kind of a masochist, I guess, in that way, the challenge I knew was, was something that would, you know, hurt, you know, for many years and people would not take me seriously, but I, I just felt like it was going to be my mission because I already knew that I was being presented one way by MTV. And I look forward to, you know, showing people, you know, who I really am or what I was really about. And, you know, yeah, I think I just wanted to take it on. And, you know, it's one of those things in life where you kind of keep taking steps and if it's feeling right and you're getting those green lights, if you will, not to quote a Matthew McConaughey novel here, but it

just, it kept, you know, I kept enjoying the process and, and, and wanting to do more and, and, um, you know, going onto One Tree Hill, of course, you know, a hundred more times and walking into that first acting class was stepping onto the set of One Tree Hill. You know, I was very aware of the success of the show, looked up to everyone on it and, um, you know, just hope that they were going to give me a shot to, you know, to prove what I was about. And thankfully everyone in there was, was very kind. I had done a movie with, um, Hillary Burton and that was massive as well. She, she, you know, first day, um, we didn't actually work together in the beginning, but she took me out to dinner and, you know, she, she brought the call sheet and flipped it over and

was like, you memorize all these people's names, you know, the whole crew, everyone on the, on the back and, and taught me, you know, a few things that I still take to this day. And then, um, you know, people like Lee Norris, who, who was so sweet right away, just, you know, popping out of his trailer and, and, you know, opening his hand to me, just, you know, wanting to say hello and make sure I felt comfortable. Sophia Bush took me under her wing right away and made sure I was comfortable. I mean, I was doing a lot of scenes with her and, and, uh, I must've asked her to run lines with me a hundred times every day, but, uh, she was so gracious and patient with me and did that. Um, so, you know, look, I, I am so grateful for that opportunity. It was, it was something I

wanted so bad. I just did a couple episodes and then I told them like, I'd love to keep coming back like this is a show that you know I would love to be on and it was a pivotal moment for me because you know you can take all these acting classes and study and do stuff on your own but there's nothing like being on a set um when you got to hit those marks and and be in you know not don't block someone's light and still deliver something interesting um you know it that was where I learned a lot that's where I learned the most so um yeah I I really look back fondly on on that time in my life. That was so good. I miss it. What was one thing like while One Tree with Hill was airing, I'm sure that you were getting so many other offers because like people

don't want to give you a job unless you already have a job in Hollywood. Was there anything that you turned down that you absolutely regret that you were getting offered at that time? You know, after doing Traders, I think, and I wouldn't say I regret it. You know, I actually look back and, and well, there's some, I think I got very strict on what I was doing. I didn't loosen up a little bit and take some more risks. It was very narrow. The decision-making at that time, I felt like, you know, to be taken seriously and understood as somebody who respects the craft and, and, and wants to, you know, to be inscripted, if I'm still running around doing a bunch of reality shows um that that would not be good and um you know there were stuff like you look back

and there was like a random appearance on here's a funny like blending of lines i got it i got an offer to to do um to judge sweden's next top model and when you when you tell my friends this they're like what is wrong with you like you you had an offer to go to sweden for a couple months and and judge a modeling contest and i was like guys you don't understand and they're like what would they want you to do? And they're like, well, they wanted me to be like an acting coach. They wanted me to teach some of them how to act. And I think the idea of, you know, okay, make the transition if you wanted to. And again, for me coming off of Laguna and then, you know, getting a couple acting gigs, like still just getting started, but proving nothing for me to go and do that and think

that I was something, uh, would, was going to be, was as a terrible call in my mind at that time. But I look back on that now, I was like, eh, it would have been harmless. It could, it could have been fun. Dancing with the Stars was coming around that time as well. And actually, we were talking about Chelsea Kane. She eventually did it. And I give her a lot of credit because I had turned it down years prior and told her, I was like, I mean, you've got a pretty established acting career going. Is it something that you want to do? And she was like, I'm going to do it. And it worked out great for her career. So I give her a lot of credit for making that decision. I look back and I was like, you know what? It would have scared me shitless to do that show. And I probably would

have fallen on my face, but you know, maybe we would have been stronger for it. I don't know. I definitely don't look back. Would you do it now? Cause it's the same casting director. Now that you had fun on traders, can we do dancing with the stars? Um, yeah, you know, I, I think dancing, I, the show is, is amazing. And, and, um, I've been watching a little bit of late. Um, I wouldn't rule it out. You know, you never say never, you know, it's, it's another one of those challenges where especially after seeing you know um uh chelsea's experience on it at that time um you know i was this would be something maybe even more than traders that would scare the living shit out of me and i i don't think i'm a great dancer so we'd be starting from zero here

and yeah i don't know playing with fire again we go back to the beginning of playing with fire it's like we got we got away with one with laguna beach and and you know traders has been an awesome experience. So maybe we just leave it at that. You know, the third time, who knows what could happen? Split my pants on the dance floor. The people want you. Yeah, the people, us, the lady gang. The Lady Gang. You got married, you got a baby on the way. What is it like to date in your like 30s, 40s after you are like publicly dissected by humanity for your dating life in your 20s?

Like, is that wild? You know, thankfully, I'm not looking at it like that where everything was so dissected. I'm living, choosing to live as ignorant as possible about anybody seeing Laguna Beach, the real Orange County. So I, you know, yeah, denial, denial, denial about it all. And, you know, I try to just go forth living as normal as possible. And it's not something that, of course, I would talk about or, you know, bring up. and it, but it was, it was funny when, when people kind of, sometimes they'd pretend that they didn't know about the show Laguna or anything like that. And I could tell that

they were pretending that was a turnoff. Um, but you know, yeah, I, I just tried to, to say as, as grounded as possible. And, and, um, you know, yeah, I, I felt like I still had a pretty, pretty regular dating experience the most, you know, and a lot of it's, you know, um, a mess and, and, um, there, and, but thankfully we've been spit out the other side and we've found a lovely wife and we're more happy than we've ever been. So, um, you know, not without his trials and tribulations of dating, as we've all been through. Um, I did go single for a while before Alex and I, uh, started dating. I was dating around a little bit, but nothing serious for, for years and, and just kind of focusing on work. And, and that was great for me. And

And I just waited until it was something that, you know, really was shaking up my world. And Alex stepped into my life and that happened. So thankfully it was, you know, the right decision. And now we're, you know, now we're happily married. How did you guys meet? I slid into her DMs. Oh, shit. I was, as I said, I was single for a while and I hadn't been on any dating apps, but it was getting about that time.

This is bleak, bleak street. yeah, I was like, all right, we, we got to put ourself out there a little bit more. Um, so, you know, either maybe try to reach out to somebody, uh, that you've been casually stalking on, on Instagram, um, and see if they're single and, and looking to date and we'll see what happens from there. And, um, so yeah, I reached out to her and, um, the rest is history. Wow. You created your own dating app. Cute. Yeah. Thankfully. Um, yeah, I, um, man, I don't know what the dating apps would have been like for me. It was already a big step to roll out the message that, of course, you know, I scrutinized the message I was sending, you know, over and over again.

Like, what do we write to this person? Do you remember what it was? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And she'll remind me. It's going to have the obligatory, I never do this. And, of course, it was actually real. But it's so funny.

As I'm writing, I'm like, she's not going to believe this. You're so full of shit. And, um, I just didn't want to come off well too presumptuous. So, uh, that was my big word in the whole spiel was something about grabbing drinks. Um, but you know, maybe we can meet for a minute. Uh, don't want to necessarily say dinner if I'm, cause I don't want to be too presumptuous, something like that. And we threw on an upside down smiley face at the end of that. And then, uh, she said she was on the other end at lunch with her friends in LA. She was just visiting for for a couple weeks and uh uh she read it to them and and they were laughing and

and they were like you gotta do it like you gotta go just for the story so thankfully uh she took me up on it so you just had like found her picture at some point in time and started following her like this is so fascinating my theory on the um yeah i used to say for a while we met in the metaverse the algorithms you know she was being pushed my way you know she's from north carolina I obviously spent a lot of time there working on One Tree Hill and still travel back often. She's in the sports world and I'm a big sports fan. And so I think that she was being pushed to me in that way. And then, yeah, I was just saw her and, you know, was casually following her for casually.

Who casually follows somebody? That's two words. Does she remember when you followed her? Was she like, oh, I remember when I saw the thing like Stephen Coletti follows you? or did she even know you were following her? Oh yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't, see, that's the thing. I wasn't actually following her.

The casual following is stalking. Oh, stalking. And let me say this before I put that out there. I wasn't like crazy in any sort of way, like stalking this. I just, she would pop up and then I would, you know, I'd look at some of her photos.

Any time she posted something, it would pop up on my For You page, right? But I was, yeah, I wasn't going to follow her. You never commented? You never left like a heart emoji on there? No, you were just silent. Nope, nope. Just sitting in the shadows.

Just keeping time. The DM was literally out of nowhere to her. It was. She was in LA. So she was in North Carolina or traveling around. She works for NASCAR. So she's traveling around the country all the time. And then I saw that she was in LA.

And so that's when I was like, okay, let's just get denied right away. So we can, you know, just not, you know, be stalking this profile anymore. I keep saying stalking. I should use another word. what do you what's a good word watching watching there's no good word steven let me ask you this you it you know a lot of girly pops we are like oh you know when when a breakup happens when a heartbreak happens we're like well if i was different if i acted different if i did something different if i was cooler if i didn't respond if i responded cooler i could have made him

want to marry me do you believe that or do you just believe that like when you meet your person you meet your person like did you just know with your wife you know or was there like can you manipulate someone into marrying you culty you know i think some people definitely can i don't know how it's going to work out in the long run uh for you necessarily i i wish them the best but i'm more of a like you know you know you know you know right away it's almost like when someone's The first impression, the showing you, there's even a sports analogy here where it's like some, you know, you could see somebody like, you know, if they have it or not right away, they're going to be a superstar. And if so, if this person is going to be like a superstar in your little world, you get that feeling where it's, you know, that feeling in the pit of your stomach and you make time for them no matter what. Any conversation is great conversation, no matter how ridiculous or stupid.

So you knew, like when you guys went on your drinks, you were like, oh, wow. Yes. So first date, I mean, from the minute I saw her in person after not seeing her on Instagram anymore. So that first, yeah, first conversation, you know, the conversation is just flying and you're like, oh no, something's different here. But it's what we were looking for. You know, it's the search that I was on for a while and it happened right away with her. And then with each step, it just got confirmed more and more. She was only in town for a couple more days. I was actually living in San Diego at the time. And so I was like, all right, I need to see her one more time before she, she leaves. So I went on the most aggressive, uh, you know, longest date as far as

I think miles traveled in one day is I drove from San Diego up to LA, picked her up. And then we went down to orange County. We hung out for the day. I drove her back to LA, dropped her off and then drove back to San Diego. So I drove like six hours in one day just to make sure we got that second date in before she went back to North Carolina. This is a great reminder that if men want to see you, they'll see you. You know what I mean? Like if Steven can drive nine hours to take this woman on a date, that guy can drive 20 minutes to pick you up, even though he has that hashtag flu. Okay. Let's just all remember that. It should be easy. Right. And it's not, I know it's not always the case, but it should like the, the, like, all right, let's the hanging out. It's

like you clear your schedule for it, you know? And I know some people are a little, maybe a little bit more difficult or whatever it may be is. But I've always found that it should be easy to find that time. I love it. Last thing before you go, I do want to ask you about Everyone is Doing Great. So you produced this, you wrote this, you starred in it, and there's more to come? Or are you done now? Are you working on something else? Yeah, we've got more to come. Because it is like very iconic, like, what do they call it? Oh, like a cult, cult following. Yeah, we've got a great community that have helped even build the show from the beginning. You know, we crowdfunded the first season after we did an episode we were taking it around to some tv festivals and and then

you know ask folks if if they wanted to help out um and we received a portion of our budget from the crowdfunding and then that was enough to get other people interested um you know having that community was was so vital to getting investors involved that wanted to put forth their money to to see eight episodes and so yeah we did that and uh thankfully we got to hulu they licensed us for a couple of years, which was great. Paramount plus did internationally. So, um, you know, we were so pumped on what happened there. And then we kind of got the word. We're like, yeah, maybe, you know, if you guys make another, you know, another season independently, like we'll check it out and we'll see where we're at at that time. Um, so we went back and we're calling in all

the favors again with friends and we're, we're making the second season. Uh, we've done that. And then we've just been waiting for the right home. Like we felt like it hasn't gotten its due quite yet and we've had some offers but nothing that we felt was you know the best interest of the show and continuing to make the show um so we've been holding it close we've also had i call it a little bit of a divorce you know you can you can call it a conscious uncoupling if you will from our sales agency where we were at before and we we uh just started working with sony not too long ago and they've been great partners um and so uh yeah we're just getting back out there And yeah, we're going to bring it.

I mean, Peacock, Peacock, Peacock. Yeah, right? Just need to win Traders and then, yes. Yeah, open up all the doors. That is why you go so hard on the challenges. He needs money to make the show. This is all making sense. Exactly, brilliant.

Listen, we love you on Traders. Thank God for your wife. I'm so happy to hear that she helped you get the Traders. This is very interesting to me. Thank you for coming and we will see you next Tuesday. See you next Tuesday. Lady Gang is hosted and produced by Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek, with social media support from Kali Carrera, audio and video editing from Jared Monaco,

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