If there’s one thing all Gossip Girl fans can agree on, it’s that Jenny Humphrey’s departure was necessary. Little J, played by Taylor Momsen, stayed on the Upper East Side far too long as it stands. While the show was airing, it felt like Momsen’s exit was due to woefully unhinged storylines causing the character to spin completely out of control, but as we learned from Momsen’s interview on Podcrushed, a podcast co-hosted by Jenny’s brother Dan (Penn Badgley), that wasn’t the case.
Taylor Momsen Opened Up About Hollywood
As Momsen told her former co-star and his co-hosts on Wednesday’s episode of Podcrushed, one day the actor realized she didn’t have to remain on the show if she didn’t want to. “They went, ‘Well, we can’t let you out of your deal, but we can write you out of the show, so you can go on tour.’ … They really allowed me to follow my dream, and I’m forever grateful and thankful to them for that,” she said.
Momsen also noted that she has no bad memories of working with Badgley, but did imply that she might not have good memories of working with other cast members, though the conversation between the former onscreen siblings remained positive.
Taylor Momsen and Penn Badgley in ‘Gossip Girl’
Momsen’s career in Hollywood spans decades now, so the podcasters also asked her about other acting experiences, namely her part as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. “I was ‘Grinch’ girl. I was always in this kind of weird, isolated world,” Momsen said of the aftermath of her iconic role.
She Delved into Her Music Career, Too
While Momsen is an actor, she’s first and foremost a musician, something she made clear during the interview. Momsen has been the lead singer of the band The Pretty Reckless since Gossip Girl was in its early days, and her departure from the show was in pursuit of a full-time music career. “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,” she said of that time in her life. The musician first connected with music when she recorded the song “Where Are You Christmas?” for the Grinch.
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We doubt we’ll see Momsen return to our screens any time soon – the last time she acted was for a quick appearance on the series finale of Gossip Girl. But any time we’re missing her, we’ll just rewatch the show. After all, Jenny Humphrey is a character we love to hate.
Gossip Girl is streaming now on Max, and Podcrushed is streaming wherever you listen to podcasts.
