Penn Badgley heats up the pages in a spread for the February/March issue of Wonderland magazine, on newsstands in the UK tomorrow (February 5).

The 23-year-old actor spoke about fan hysteria and musicians he looks up to. Check it:

On Gossip Girl craziness: “I remember the first time we did a Gossip Girl fan event and about 600 people showed up. And they were all screaming. How do you not let something like that go to your head? The answer is that you just can’t. The first two seasons, I was definitely into it. I admit it. It was an interesting thing to be a part of. Not just seeing yourself on billboards, and getting invited to all these parties, and whatever, but the weirder aspects, too, they were interesting to explore.”

“But now I’m sort of over the whole thing. I don’t resent the attention, but I don’t necessarily invite it, either. I think it’s when people do that – when they become so obsessed with their public image that they don’t feel like themselves when they’re out of the spotlight – that’s when they crack-up.”

On musicians he admires: “D’Angelo is a god to me. I mean, people hear that from me, and they’re always like, ‘Oh, but he got so messed up.’ Who cares? Listen to Voodoo. That’s a record. You know, I listen to it sometimes, and I wonder, maybe you have to be messed up to make art like that. Maybe you’ve got to destroy yourself. Or have that thing that destroys you.”

source: justjared

As anyone follower of “Gossip Girl” knows, Jenny Humphrey has a wild side. The rebellious teen knows how to crash a society gala, run away from home and has even been known to engage in a little drug dealing on the side.

And though Taylor Momsen, the 16-year-old actress who plays her, is just an actress, she does seem to share her character’s love of rebel rousin’.

“To be honest,” she tells The Times of London in a recent interview, “I don’t f***ing care. I didn’t get into this to be a role model. So I’m sorry if I’m influencing your kids in a way that you don’t like, but I can’t be responsible for their actions. I don’t care.”

Alrighty, then! The black eyeliner-loving actress — who started her career at age 3 in a Shake ‘N Bake commercial — is also the lead singer and songwriter for her band, The Pretty Reckless. Her fashion style, she tells the Times, is “grunge meets Chanel.”

Here are some more quips from Momsen’s Times interview:

• On the popularity of “Gossip Girl”: “It’s insane. I literally can’t go out without being interrupted. It’s wild.”
• On not caring what people think of her: “Online, there’s a thousand people who are just so mean. There are so many negative comments about just the pettiest things that you can’t even read it.”
• On being a finalist for the lead in “Hannah Montana”: “Honestly, if I’d have ended up as Hannah Montana, I don’t know if the show would have gone as well. I probably would have told them all to go f*** themselves by the time I hit 11. And I don’t know how that would have gone down. It’s great for Miley, but I really like where I am right now and I feel really fortunate to be able to really be myself.”
• On hanging out with older people: “I have, like, no friends my age.”
• On fashion: “I loooove Chanel. And YSL. And Balmain. And Alexander Wang.”
• On her grungy look: “My favorite blogs are where you get the mothers saying, ‘She’s the worst influence on my daughter, I would never let my daughter dress like that’, or, ‘This girl’s such a whore, she’s a slut’. And I’m, like, you’re a mother! And I’m 16.”
• On accessories: “I like wearing garters. Apparently people think that’s a big deal, but my tights won’t stay up. So whatever you want to do with that information …”

• On the price of fame: “I can’t try on a jacket without people taking pictures and posting them online. I mean, I’m 16 and I can’t get away with anything. My mother finds out everything. Other teenagers — they have lots of freedom!”

Now, that’s something to gossip about.

source

Gossip Girl cutie Chace Crawford shares his famous face with Glamour in their February 2010 issue with cover girl Katy Perry.

In the issue, Chace, 24, poses with a model to illustrate what kinds of clothes drive guys wild! Here’s what Chace had to share with Glamour:

On whether he’s ever dated a girl as high-maintenance as Blair Waldorf:

“I’ve never even come close to meeting someone that high-maintenance!”

On whether he’s looking for a girlfriend:

“I’m 24 [and] in New York City, so I’m not exactly coming home every night plucking the violin strings. But when it happens, it happens.”

On whether he worries about the show’s success fizzling out:

“Well, my grandparents tell me, ‘You have such a great apartment. We hope you can keep it!’ ‘Yeah, me too, Granddad. Thanks.’”

credit: JustJared

And we found out what Ed and Jessica Szohr did on their latest date night!

After a long day at work filming scenes for Gossip Girl, Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr showed up at the premiere for Youth in Revolt in NYC on Jan. 5 for a low-key date night, dressed down in jeans and trading a walk down the carpet for the concession stand! Judging by the slew of snacks Jessica scooped up for the couple (nachos with jalapenos, Sour Patch Kids, and a small popcorn), it doesn’t look like swearing off sweets was on their list of resolutions.

While Jessica, (wearing jeans, a long hooded sweater and flat boots), posed for a few photos, Ed, (dressed in jeans and a Dolce and Gabbana leather jacket), told us he’s a huge fan of his gal pal’s style saying,”She always looks great!” But when it comes to Ed’s outfit options, he scoffed at borrowing style pointers from his super-styled alter-ego, Chuck Bass, “Look at me, I’m a dirtbag!” It looks like Ed likes to keep his look casual, and he also wouldn’t mind passing some pointers down to his character! So, does that mean he thinks Chuck should start dressing more like Ed? “We all should try to dress more like me,” Ed said, laughing.

Aww, Ed and Jess, we love your super-cute down-to-earth date looks–and your matching laid-back attitudes!

source: HollywoodLife.com/Katrina Mitzeliotis

Leighton Meester. The name is familiar but why is it on the charts?! It seems fame and fortune on the small screen wasn’t enough for the sexy Gossip Girl.

No, Leighton wanted to take her popularity to the next level; and like many before her, decided to launch a pop career. But, being a regular pop star just won’t do. Leighton’s got her sights set on something much higher.

She says, “I was recently watching a lot of Bette Davis movies, like All About Eve. She’s so fabulous, over-the-top and amazing. I relate to her a lot.” But, while that may be stretching it a bit too much, Miss Meester certainly does have the vocal prowess that has the potential to make it in the music biz.

Read the rest of this entry »

The “Gossip Girl” star dishes about her fledgling music career
By Matt Pais

On Friday Meester will perform her single, “Somebody to Love,” and other songs from her electro-pop debut album (currently without a name or release date) at Underground (doors open at 10 p.m., $20 cover; RSVP to vip@rockitranch.com by noon Friday). It will be her first trip to Chicago, and her agenda is simple: “We don’t have a lot of time,” says Meester, 23, from Miami. “We’re going to have a nice meal, we’re going to party, we’re going to do the show and maybe get to run around a little bit and see what the city’s all about.”

How much of a stigma, if any, do you feel as an actor turned musician?
I feel none, unless I’m asked that question.

Which actor-turned-musician do you listen to more: Heidi Montag or Joey Lawrence?
I wasn’t aware of either.

Of either one existing as a person?
No, I mean, I know who those people are, but I didn’t know that they were musicians or actors. I know Joey Lawrence is an actor, but I didn’t know that Heidi Montag was an actress. I think that if I look up to any actor/musicians, and there are quite a few of them, I really like Dolly Parton, 2Pac, Cher. I really like Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Lopez. There’s a lot of ‘em.

What can people expect from your live show?
It’s a lot of fun. It’s just a good mood. It’s a really good vibe. It’s very sexy. So far we’re doing about five songs each set. I have a DJ, a live drummer, keyboardist, two dancers and, of course, myself.

Read the rest of this entry »

In Part 2 of our interview with Chuck and Gossip Girl executive producer Josh Schwartz, we discovered that the big hubbub over the threesome is the least of Gossip’s worries. Schwartz tells TVGuide.com that there’s another story line that will cause quite a stir when the show returns and it involves one of the people pictured here. Get the scoop on that, the progression of Dan (Penn Badgley) and Vanessa’s (Jessica Szohr) relationship, Serena’s (Blake Lively) daddy issues and more …

TVGuide.com: What are you gearing towards in the season’s second half?
Josh Schwartz: You’re really going to see a real emotional arc from Chuck [Ed Westwick]. I think Jenny [Taylor Momsen] and Chuck are really going to be driving a lot of story as we move into the back half of the season.

TVGuide.com: Jenny and Eric (Connor Paolo) called a truce in the last episode. Will that actually stick?
Schwartz: They’ve called a truce with each other, but Jenny’s troubles are just beginning. She’s still very much a teenage girl, she’s grown up with these kids who are older than her and always wanted to be a part of that, but she’s going to find out that she’s not quite as adult and grown up as she thinks she is.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blake Lively arrives at my apartment carrying her dinner in a paper bag, dressed like a modern-day pinup. She is wearing a pair of black tuxedo shorts, a white blouse opened just enough to hint at a delicate black bra, and a pair of 5-inch Christian Louboutin heels with three straps on the front—they look like bondage Mary Janes—making her 5’10″ frame appear 7 feet tall. Her bracelets are a chic variation of spiked punk dog collars, her blonde mane is disheveled, her skin smooth and golden. At 22 years old, she looks brazen yet girlish, sexy yet sweet. She is, as usual, all smiles, with an endearing, almost puppyish enthusiasm. A bombshell of a girl, I would say Lively is like a tall, frosty glass of milk—but when you take a sip, you realize that the milk has bourbon in it. (Milk Punch, as it is known, is a delicious, distinctly Southern, sweet brunch beverage that you can consume gallons of before you realize you’re intoxicated.) We settle onto my bed, the only place in the house where we can hide from my kids.

On Lively’s first day on the set of my new film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee—where Lively plays the young, troubled runaway Pippa Lee to Robin Wright Penn’s adult Pippa—she was exhausted, having arrived at 7 a.m. after working until 3 a.m. on the pop-culture soap-smash Gossip Girl the night before. The fact that her first scene in the movie would entail hysterical tears and a climactic fight with her bipolar mother, played by the powerful Maria Bello, seemed to faze her only slightly at the time, though internally, it seems, it was another story…

Click on ‘Read More’ to read the rest of the interview.

[09] Lorraine Schwartz

Read the rest of this entry »

Blake Lively strikes a fierce pose on the November 2009 cover of Nylon Magazine.

With her new movie, Blake Lively proves her acting talent and appeal… again.

On TV, Serena van der Woodsen changes boyfriends, life goals, and party plans on a daily basis. But Blake Lively, who embodies Serena so well on Gossip Girl, couldn’t be more different.

When executive editor Stephanie Trong sat down with the fast-rising star to discuss her new movie, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, she found that the former high school class president and California native is a focused and fiercely intelligent young woman.

The one similarity between Blake and her on-screen alter ego? They pile on designer clothes with the glee of a tween stacking her first set of plastic bangles. But nobody can blame her – if we had a Serena / Blake closet experience, we’d do it, too.

Check out photos of Blake from the November issue of NYLON, then get the real thing on newsstands now. But you’d already have it in your hands if you were a subscriber…

Blake on her new film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. “I had a leash around my neck, and Julianne Moore was taking pictures. I thought, What am I doing with my life? What is happening? How is this a good idea?”

How she pranks her friends. “I [credit-card] swipe my friends with, like, my phone or something, – I slide it in their butts. Like in middle school! You say ‘Visa! Mastercard!’ Just to give somebody a jump. I’m a prankster.”

Her empathetic nature. “I feel a lot. I get really bad stomachaches all the time. So I went to a doctor, and he said, ‘You’re a feeler. I take on people’s pain a little too much.”

Is she completely different from Serena? “No, because I dress just like Serena! I own half her wardrobe, so it’s far too similar to the way I dress. I feel ridiculous at times with her – because I’m, you know, killing someone or marrying someone, but I look like me. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is absurd.’”

[08] Matthew Frost

SOURCE