Spencer Pratt: 'Heidi and I tried to buy fame'

Spencer Pratt has claimed that he and Heidi Montag's attempts to "buy fame" have left them in severe debt.

Speaking to The Insider, the former Hills star admitted that he now regrets the pair's decision to try to live above their means in an attempt to maintain their celebrity.

"We felt the fleetingness of 15 minutes of fame so we were trying to buy, like... Let's buy fame," he said.

The star continued: "I know it's the dumbest thing ever spending money on things. But it's like, if we didn't, we wouldn't have got this [interview], or we wouldn't have got this picture in the [Life & Style] magazine, and then we wouldn't be famous at all, and that's the only thing we had going for us at the time."

Pratt further remarked that he was unprepared for MTV's axing of The Hills earlier this year.

"For me to think I was going to be famous and continue at that level of income on a steady basis, was... naive, egotistical, and just foolish... I can't have a long-range plan because I'm so hated I don't see anywhere I could go."

The reality star also insisted that despite the couple's financial trouble, both he and Montag are thankful to be married to one another.

He explained: "I became this hated to buy things that I don't even have anymore. So I have nothing to show for it. Thank everything that Heidi has stayed with me through all of this because I wake up and say, 'At least I have Heidi'. [That's] the greatest thing out of all of this."

Pratt recently revealed that he tried to stage a divorce from Montag in order to help her advance her career.