For a long time, Lauren Conrad 's future was unwritten, ending unplanned.
Fast-forward to today, she's the proud mom to two kids, but the 36-year-old recently admitted that her maternal clock wasn't always ticking.
"When I was young, I just assumed that's kind of what you do," she said about the idea of having children on the May 3 episode of the Perelel Lives podcast. "I was not sure I was open to it. At that age, like 25, I was like, I don't know if I need to be a mom."
But once she fell in love with her husband William Tell, 42, Lauren's mindset began to shift.
"I wanted to have a family with him and I wanted to have kids with him," she shared. "Maybe that's what I was unsure of before. I just hadn't found a partner who I was really excited to start a family with, so I think that was it for me."
She continued, "I think kids are a little bit of magic. They bring a little magic to your life."
The former star of The Hills and the former Something Corporate guitarist met on a blind date set up by friends on Valentine's Day in 2012 and tied the knot two years later. Together they have two sons: Liam James, 4, and Charlie Wolf, 2.
"My husband and I always wanted two kids," she shared. "I really wanted a sibling for my first son."
However, Lauren admitted she wasn't "someone who loved being pregnant."
"I wasn't one of those people who like loved the glow, " she said. "With my first one, I was like, 'Oh gosh, I gotta do this again.' But with my second one, I really tried to enjoy each thing. It made it easier being like, 'I'm not gonna do this again.'"
Adjusting to mom life was also a challenge for the Laguna Beach alum, revealing that she felt like she "lost" herself after the birth of her first child.
"I was like, 'I don't know when I'm gonna get back,'" she recalled. "Like, ‘am I just a new human now?‘"
She said it took "about a year" for her to feel like herself again, pointing out that a friend assured her that she would eventually become someone "even better."
"'You made a human, you're taking care of them, and it's a new-and-improved,'" Lauren remembered hearing. "And she was right. It took about a year for me to feel like myself again."
These days, Lauren—who runs a lifestyle brand that includes her nonprofit shop The Little Market, her fashion line with Kohl's and more—has struck a comfortable work-life balance, but her No. 1 priority will always be her family.
"I work from the home office. I take my son to school every day. I have lunch with my kids every day," she explained. "I'm so lucky to be able to have this flexibility, but I was able to create what balance looked like for me. That was spending as much time with my kids, not missing out."
She added, "That's why I worked really, really hard years ago because I'm putting in the time now."