Kristin Cavallari reached out to her father Dennis after growing distant following the 2015 death of her brother Michael on Thursday's episode of Very Cavallari.
The 33-year-old reality star had her brother on her mind during the season three episode after realizing that he was the last one one her side of the family carrying on the Cavallari name.
'With my brother being gone there's no one else, on my side of the family, carrying on the Cavallari name. Yeah, my brother was the last Cavallari,' she told husband Jay Cutler, 36, at their Nashville home.
Grew apart: Kristin Cavallari reached out to her father Dennis after growing apart following the 2015 death of her brother Michael on Thursday's episode of Very Cavallari
Kristin said seeing her friends Audrina Patridge, 34, and Heidi Montag, 33, recently reminded her of the importance of family.
'Over the years my dad and I have grown apart a little bit,' Kristin admitted in a confessional.
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Share'I'm interested in researching the Cavallari name and developing relationships with my extended family. Also, I just want my kids to have a really good understanding of where they come from,' the mother of three added.
Jay was typically supportive and also accepted Kristin's invitation to join her in Los Angeles where she was going to host Emmys coverage.
Family tree: Dennis who lives in Denver flew to Los Angeles to talk about the family tree with Kristin
Supportive spouse: Jay Cutler listened as Kristin talked about learning more about the Cavallari family name and developing relationships with her extended family
Dennis who lives in Denver met up with Kristin and Jay while they were in Los Angeles to discuss the Cavallari family tree.
'Since I started to get interested in tracing my family roots, I reached out to my dad because I really want to pick his brain on what he knows about the Cavallari name,' Kristin explained in a confessional.
'And I know he has a lot of photos, obviously, he knows a lot more about my great-grandparents than I do. You know, my grandparents that came over from Italy,' she added.
Cavallari history: Kristin said she reached out to her father Dennis to 'pick his brain' about the family name
Dennis showed family photos including his grandfatther Frank Cavallari who came to the United States in 1903.
Kristin while perusing an old family photo was struck by how much Michael resembled her father when he was young.
Michael died at age 30 from hypothermia in December 2015 in Utah following a car crash weeks earlier.
Family photos: Dennis shared old family photos with Kristin and shared his knowledge of their roots
Strong resemblance: Kristin while perusing an old family photo was struck by how much Michael resembled her father when he was young
Kristin was shown in a season two flashback discussing her brother's mental health issues before his death and how he crashed his car and got lost before dying of hypothermia.
'My dad and my brother were close, and, because of that, I think our relationship is very surface. It puts a little bit of a void between us,' she said in a confessional.
'So, I am hoping that with this family tree and tracing the roots. ...I don't know, maybe it just gives us something to bond over and he'll open up a bit more,' Kristin said.
Close bond: Michael and his little sister Kristin were shown in throwback photos
Second season: Kristin was shown in a season two flashback discussing her brother's mental health issues before his death and how he crashed his car in Utah in December 2015 and got lost before dying of hypothermia
She was determined to learn more about her family and even submitted DNA kits with Dennis and Jay.
'So, do you think there's people in Italy still?,' Kristin asked her father.
'Oh, I know so,' Dennis responded confidently.
Kristin did some digging of her own and after finding five different spellings of Cavallari, hired a genealogist named Fabio in Italy to help.
She and Jay had a FaceTime session with Fabio and learned that her family hailed from the small town of Monterado in the upper-calf of Italy near the Adriatic Sea.
Kristin learned that one of her cousins stills lives in Monterado, which has a population of about 2,000 people.
Video session: Kristin and Jay had a FaceTime session with Italy-based genealogist Fabio and learned that her family hailed from the small town of Monterado in the upper-calf of Italy near the Adriatic Sea
Small town: Fabio informed Kristin that one of her cousins stills lives in Monterado, which has a population of about 2,000 people
The information was a revelation since Kristin and Dennis believed the Cavallari family was from Genoa on the opposite western side of Italy near the Ligurian Sea.
'It appears that your side of the family lives all around Monterado. You know, Italians love the family. If you come out here, they will want to meet you,' Fabio said.
'It would be so much fun to go over there,' Kristin told Jay who jumped at the idea of a trip to Italy.
Fun trip: Kristin said it would be fun to visit Italy and Jay jumped at the idea
Kristin, however, felt the timing wasn't right.
'I would love to go to Italy, I just feel like right now is not an ideal time with opening up a store,' Kristin said.
'It'll work out,' Jay assured Kristin while teasing her for putting his Italian vacation 'on hold'.
On hold: Jay assured Kristin it would work out after she nixed the Italy trip idea because of her second store opening
Jay while accompanying Kristin to Hollywood watched her get ready with her glam squad for the Emmys and saw her in action during the live show on the E! network.
Kristin stunned in a yellow gown and Jay c.
The episode also showed Uncommon James employee Brittainy Taylor getting in her first fight with new boyfriend PJ Kellogg after she kept mentioning her ex Jon Stone.
Yellow gown: Kristin stunned in a yellow gown while providing commentary at the Emmys on the E! network
Jewelry assistant: Jay helped pick out Kristin's earrings
First fight: PJ Kellogg and Brittainy Cartwright had their first fight after she kept bringing up her ex Jon Stone
New relationship: The Uncommon James employee admitted that she would be upset if the shoe was on the other foot and PJ was always talking about his ex
Kristins' friend Justin Anderson also was at the Emmys as a hairstylist to the stars while his boyfriend Scoot was at their new home in Nashville.
Justin was feeling pressure from Scoot who also wanted a promise that they were headed toward marriage together.
Very Cavallari will return next week on the E! network.
Under pressure: Justin Anderson was feeling pressure from Scoot who also wanted a promise that they were headed toward marriage together
Getting emotional: Scoot wiped away tears as he told Justin that he needed to know if they planned on getting married
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