The Hills star Justin “Bobby” Brescia has warned the side effects of fame can “tear you apart as a human”.
Brescia is among the original cast members returning for The Hills: New Beginnings, a sequel to the popular reality TV show that aired from 2006 to 2010.
The show followed the glamorous lives of young men and women in Los Angeles and the follow-up will reunite old favourites and new faces.
It comes amid a debate about the scrutiny reality TV stars are placed under, following the deaths of Love Island contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis.
Brescia described the deaths as “really tragic” and said celebrities need “a good group” of friends around them.
Speaking at the New Beginnings season premiere in Los Angeles, he told the Press Association: “In this business you have to have a really tough skin, you have to have thick skin.
“You have to take things as they come and try to have a good group around you to chat with because the media and the way they portray things can tear you apart as a human.
“Stay home to yourself and pray if you need to. Get into yourself and understand what you really want.”
Brescia added: “Not that it gets you too mad because this isn’t everything, just part of something.”
Brescia is joined on New Beginnings by returning stars including Spencer and Heidi Pratt, Audrina Patridge, Brody Jenner and Whitney Port.
Actress Mischa Barton and Brandon Thomas Lee, the son of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson, are among the new faces. Lauren Conrad, the main star of the original series, is not taking part.
Brescia said he would usually have said no to a return, but “this time I thought it was a good idea, I thought it was the right time for it”.
He said the “new dynamic” of the new cast members attracted him, as well as the pull of seeing old friends.
The Hills was an early example of reality TV and Brescia thinks changes over the last decade mean the genre is now “no holds barred”.
He added: “It’s pretty raw now. You can’t really get away with stuff and editing isn’t going to save your ass. What you see is what you’re going to get.”
The Hills: New Beginnings will premiere on June 25 at 8pm on MTV.