Laguna Beach’s Talan Says Fans Will Be ‘Shocked’ by His Life as a Dad

This is growing up! Talan Torriero was known as one of the resident heartthrobs of Laguna Beach, so he thinks fans might be surprised to learn what he’s doing now.

“They’re gonna be pretty shocked to know I live in Nebraska,” the former MTV star, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, November 2, ahead of Laguna Beach coming to Netflix. “Quite a change. I could never imagine myself being an 18-year-old kid filming a reality show on the beach in Orange County living in Nebraska, let alone even knowing where Nebraska was on a map. But I’m loving my life.”

The California native shares son Bronson, 5, and daughter Hudson, 23 months, with wife Danielle Torriero, whom he wed in June 2014.

“We’re building our dream house, which I’m super excited to show more people that,” Talan told Us. “But yeah, life is good. Life is normal.”

The former reality star explained that he and his family decided to settle down in Nebraska because his wife grew up there. “It was my idea, though, to move here,” Talan told Us. “When we started dating, I think it was in her plan to live in California maybe, or maybe one day move back. But as we started thinking more about kids and our lifestyles, Nebraska just made more sense.”

Though the Cornhusker State is miles and miles away from Orange County, Talan’s eldest child still knows about his dad’s Laguna Beach past — kind of.

“He knows what TikTok is because people are mentioning to him, ‘You know, your dad’s on TikTok,’” he explained. “From there it went to, ‘Well, why do people follow you on TikTok?’ And we watched an episode of the show, and he just thought it was, like, kind of weird. But I don’t think he fully [grasps] it yet.”

Laguna Beach wrapped up in 2006, but the show has been making headlines recently in part thanks to Kristin Cavallari and Stephen Colletti‘s podcast, “Back to the Beach.” The duo have been rewatching old episodes and discussing them with their former castmates, including Talan.

“That’s been kind of cool, just to reconnect,” he told Us, adding that he frequently communicates with Lauren Conrad via Instagram and sees Colletti, 36, about once a year. “Since the show’s aired, I still keep in contact with Jason Wahler,” Talan added. “He and I have been in close contact about once a month. We talk on the phone just about boring dad stuff.”

Laguna Beach is poised to gain a new audience when it arrives on Netflix, and Talan thinks it’s “pretty fascinating” that viewers still want to watch. “Now that I’m older and I’m a dad, I think it’s kind of cool,” he told Us. “I don’t glamorize [being on the show], but I embrace it, right? Like, if someone stops me at the grocery store, I’ll say, ‘Oh, hey, how’s it going?’”

Laguna Beach debuts on Netflix Friday, November 11.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi