Taylor Momsen in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Taylor Momsen leaving Gossip Girl was kind of a big deal. The actress was seen increasingly less during The CW hit’s fourth season, despite having been one of the main characters in the ones prior. Jenny Humphrey slowly but surely started to disappear from the series after replacing Blair Waldorf as the Constance Billard School for Girls’ Queen Bee, which was all kinds of confusing for fans.

Talk of a feud between Momsen and Leighton Meester contributed to the rumors behind Momsen’s departure from the show. In fact, she was bashed in public statements by more than one of her co-workers. But the truth about her departure is much less dramatic and vitriolic than it was originally made out to be.



The actress, now 27, started modeling at the age of 2. She started acting at 3, landing her first major role in the Jim Carrey How The Grinch Stole Christmas. That experience, she shared in a recent interview with Today, sparked her love of music. From then on, the young artist knew she wanted to be a musician while she was actively auditioning for acting work.

She landed the role of Jenny Humphrey and started filming Gossip Girl when she was just 12 years old, and she spent the next several years growing through her artistry, her music becoming more and more of a priority for her.

When she formed her current rock band, The Pretty Reckless, she knew her Gossip Girl days were numbered. Not because she wasn’t allowed to pursue work outside of the show, rather she knew in her gut that she wanted to focus on the band full time.



Momsen wasn’t the only musician in the Gossip Girl cast. Meester, her on-screen rival, was pursuing a solo music career. Her collaboration with Cobra Starship, “Good Girls Go Bad,” was featured on the series, as well as some of Meester’s other music, and that reportedly caused a feud between Meester and Momsen (which, to be honest, sounds like its own folk band).

The Grinch alum wanted her band’s music featured on the show, but The CW released a harsh public statement instead, rather than, you know, just talking to her about it.

“The show will support Taylor and her music when the time is right, but her music is not ready yet,” the statement read. Oof. Why the show executives felt the need to issue a public take down of Momsen’s music remains a mystery, but her band’s tunes were eventually featured on the show.