Cavallari launched her new relationship with Estes on Feb. 27 just two weeks after their first date.
Kristin Cavallari is letting fans in on her love story with her new boyfriend, Mark Estes.
In a new episode of her podcast, Let’s Be Honest With Kristin Cavallari, the 37-year-old reality television star says it was TikTok of all places that made the initial connection.
Estes, 24, is part of a content creation team known as the Montana Boyz, who post videos about their lives on a Montana ranch. The group has more than 630,000 followers on the social media app and it was while Cavallari was "scrolling on TikTok" that she found her new beau.
"So I go, 'Holy s**t, who are these guys? Because they’re so hot, but specifically this one,' who I’m going to refer to as Montana. I send it to you, and we're both like, 'This is the hottest guy we've ever seen,'" she told best friend Justin Anderson, a guest on the podcast episode.
"If someone could draw your type, that's your type," Anderson replied.
"He is. You know what it is, too? He's gorgeous, it's like everything about him is perfect, but he's also outdoorsy and manly and it's like that combination of the two for me is just, like, game f**king over," Cavallari continued.
Despite being struck in the moment and calling Estes the "hottest guy" she's ever seen, she said she carried on with her life for several weeks until she randomly received a message from the Montana Boyz Instagram account.
"Three weeks later, I get a DM on Instagram from the Montana Boyz that just says 'I love you.' And I’m going, 'Oh, my God,'" the Laguna Beach star said, prompting Anderson to add that her reaction was reminiscent to that of "a little high school girl."
Ultimately, Cavallari says she and her assistant got to work and arranged for the content creators to come on her podcast, and in the process, they found out that the group was making a move to Nashville, where she is located.
"I asked which one I was talking to and he said, 'This is Montana responding,'" Cavallari said, referring to Estes as "Montana" throughout the episode. "And I said, 'Oh, good. You're my favorite.'"
She and several other "young girls" who work with her ended up meeting the Montana Boyz on a night out in Nashville, which is when Estes asked her point blank to be his Valentine, which she found "cute."
For their very first date on Feb. 13 -- two weeks before she hard launched their relationship on Instagram -- Estes picked her up at her home and met her mom and three children -- Camden, Jaxon and Saylor -- whom she shares with ex-husband Jay Cutler. She said the whole ordeal, which ended with a makeout session in her driveway, made her feel "like I was in high school."
"He came, he brought me flowers, picked me up, we went to dinner, it was very sweet," Cavallari said.
Seemingly addressing the quick turnaround between their Feb. 13 date and Feb. 27 hard launch, Cavallari said that it was "a little early" but that she had received a tip that TMZ obtained photos of them together and were planning to share them.
"I was just like, 'You know what? I've been in this business for 20 years,'" she added. "'The media has always like controlled the narrative to a large degree.' And part of me was like, 'I wanna take it in my own hands.'"
Turning to their 13-year age gap, Cavallari insists that age is just a number in this case and that it was never her intention to enter into a relationship with someone much younger than her.
"Me dating a 24-year-old is not something that I was searching out. It's not something that I at all ever thought would ever happen," she admitted. "I understand what it looks like to the outside world. I really do. I get that."
Cavallari added, "He is not a typical 24-year-old."
In early March, she also clapped back at criticism in a TikTok calling out the haters and showing that she is unfazed by the backlash.
"So what are you going to do about it," Cavallari lip-synched along to a sound in the video, tousling her hair and looking directly at the camera. "Are you going to arrest me? Are you going to give me a ticket?"
For more on Cavallari and Estes' relationship and Cavallari's dating history, check out the links below.
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