Not every case of someone leaving a long-running show is clear. Taylor Momsen has cleared the air about her exit from the CW teen drama series Gossip Girl, which led to her career in music with her band The Pretty Reckless. Being 12 years old at the time of the show’s debut, she had little choice in the childhood she wanted to have. She looked back on the trade-off of losing out on being with friends in school when she was getting a jumpstart in her career.
The musician played Jenny, the little sister to Dan Humphrey, played by You star Penn Badgley. She was a prominent character in the first three seasons before she started to be seen less. In season 4, she appeared in four episodes out of a total of 22 episodes. By season 5, she was gone. For the series finale in 2012, titled New York, I Love You XOXO, she made a return for the show’s sendoff.
Taylor Momsen Looks Back on Gossip Girl Exit and Career in Music
Taylor Momsen explained why she left Gossip Girl on Badgley’s podcast, Podcrushed. While the two reminisced, she cleared up any misconceptions on her leaving the successful series. It partially started from her entrance to the show, as she had little say due to being 12. “Larger powers” told her it would be “a great opportunity,” which “convinced” her to join the CW pilot. Doing something that she was not fully committed to led to writing music.
“That’s where music became such a solace for me. Thinking back on my life, it was this place where I could just be writing songs, emoting how I felt. I was by myself a lot. I didn’t have my own clique.”
Another aspect of leaving the show was the age gap between her and the other actors. Now 30, she found herself at 12 years old with people mostly in their 20s. Badgley was 20 when he started his journey as Dan. Connor Paolo, who played Eric, the younger brother of Serena (Blake Lively), was the closest to her age as he was three years older. Between being younger and being the “Grinch girl,” as she played Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, she felt she “didn’t fit in” with any group on set.
Before Gossip Girl, Taylor Momsen had her own band with some school friends. Two years into the show, she founded her band, The Pretty Reckless. Yearning for touring and composing music, she had help from the people behind the CW series to let her go on tour. She could not be let go of the contract but was written off until the finale to tour with The Pretty Reckless and explore that side of entertainment.
