Highlights
- Taylor Momsen, known for her roles in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Gossip Girl," was bullied for her acting career, being called "Grinch Girl" in school.
- She always felt isolated from the rest of the "Gossip Girl" cast due to her age and struggled to fit in with the group.
- Momsen made the easy choice to quit acting and pursue her music career, as she felt a strong pull toward music and enjoyed it more than acting.
Taylor Momsen began acting when she was only two years old! But her two more popular roles to date are Cindy Lou Who in the film How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and Jenny Humphrey on The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl. However, she was also one of the three main actresses considered to play the title character in Hannah Montana, although Miley Cyrus ended up getting the role.
Momsen also ventured into modeling when she was 14 and still working on Gossip Girl. However, both her acting and modeling careers seemed to come to an abrupt end after she left the show in 2011. Since then, Momsen has been the front person of the rock band The Pretty Reckless. But how did Momsen go from starring in Gossip Girl to becoming an all-American rock star?
Taylor Momsen Was Bullied At School For A Role
Taylor Momsen was only 7 when she was cast as Cindy Lou Who in Ron Howard’s 2000 Christmas movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas, alongside none other than Jim Carrey. Despite acting since she was two years old, this was Momsen’s breakout role and even earned her a Saturn Award nomination.
Despite the success of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the young actress was bullied at school for her role in this film.
“The Grinch changed my life in a multitude of ways — one of them being I was made fun of relentlessly,” Momsen revealed during an interview on Podcrushed, a podcast series co-hosted by her former Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley. “Every time I would start a new school or go somewhere else, I don’t even think the kids knew my name. I was just Grinch Girl. Not even the character name [Cindy Lou Who], just Grinch Girl.”
The singer and songwriter admitted that while she “got used to” the bullying over time, it still “was alienating” to constantly be reduced to “Grinch Girl.” Unfortunately, she faced bullying once again when she landed the role of Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl five years later.
Taylor Momsen Revealed She Always Felt "Isolated" From The Rest Of The Gossip Girl Cast
Taylor Momsen was 12 when she was cast as Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl. Being the youngest person on the cast wasn’t easy for her. It also didn’t help that she had to leave friends behind, after finally finding her "little groove in [middle] school as a normal kid,” to film the show.
In an interview with Penn Badgley, the actress-turned-musician revealed that she felt like she never felt like she fit in with the rest of her co-stars due to her age.
“I was so much younger than all of you," she admitted, noting that Connor Paolo was the closest in age to her, though he is three years her senior. "He was actually great, when I moved to New York, Connor and I became friends, and he took me under his wing."
"I didn't have my own clique. I didn’t fit in with you guys,” Momsen told Badgley. “I didn’t fit in with Connor [Paolo]’s friends — I was younger than them. I was the new girl. I was Grinch Girl. I was always in this kind of weird, isolated world — partially of my own creating, probably.”
Ultimately, Momsen’s isolation from the rest of the Gossip Girl cast turned out to be a good thing because it allowed her to explore other ventures, such as music. "That's where music became such a solace for me. It was this place where I could just be, writing songs and emoting how I felt because I was by myself a lot," she admitted.
Taylor Momsen Admitted That Quitting Acting To Pursue A Music Career Was An Easy Choice
Taylor Momsen felt a pull to music from a very young age. On one occasion, she admitted that "music is where I can be me," she told Digital Spy in 2010.
"I really do it because I love it, honestly. It's what I want to do with my life. I mean, it's my only goal.” She also explained that, to her, music is very different from acting because it’s far more personal, and “you're involved in every step of it." But Momsen has been acting for even longer than she’s been making music. So, how did she decide to quit Gossip Girl to become a rockstar?
Momsen formed her band, The Pretty Reckless, with the help of rock music producer Kato Khandwala in 2009. After several successful gigs, the band signed with Interscope Records and released their debut album in 2010. Suddenly, Momsen realized she enjoyed making music way more than acting.
“I started modeling at 2, and then acting at 3, and then Gossip Girl when I was 12, so I wasn’t really making my own decisions,” Momsen told the Daily Beast in 2014. “When I got to a place where I realized I was in control of my own life, and had found the right band, and everything was coming to fruition, it wasn’t even a question: I was going to quit my day job.”
Luckily, the Gossip Girl producers supported her decision and wrote her off the show so she could pursue her true passion.
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