Spencer Pratt always has some strange new ploy for attention up his sleeve – but not his split from wife Heidi Montag.

That, he says, despite the fact that nobody has seen divorce papers and family and Hills castmates are skeptical, is the real deal.

"We love each other but I'm a famewhore and I'll never grow out of it," Pratt tells PEOPLE. "[Heidi] knows that and doesn't want that."

"I want every kind of press," he says. "She believes in bad press. There's no way my love for fame and her love for puppies will ever work out successfully. She just wants to hike and hang out and be calmer."

As for their infamous "Speidi," moniker, Pratt says his estranged wife "doesn’t want to be Speidi anymore. She wants to be Heidi Montag: the sex symbol."

"She thought I'd burn out of this, but no, I'm still the same Spencer who went on The Hills to be famous," he says. "I still need to do stunts and take cues from Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise."

Pratt, who mentions he and his ex are "friendly," says Speidi trouble is nothing new. "It's been a constant battle since we got married," he says. "She would be like, 'Are you really Tweeting that? Are you really doing that?'"

So what's next for the limelight-loving reality personality?

When fighting cyber crime fell through, Pratt says he decided to grow a beard and turn to art. "I'm switching it up," he says. "I've already gone for the blonde, spiky-haired look. Now I'm going for the Hollywood producer look."

Continues Pratt: "I'm an artist now. I have an easel and everything. I'm going for an art show and a gallery."