Taylor Momsen, who starred as Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl in its first four seasons, recently revealed why she left after Season 4. In a new interview, she shared that her decision to depart stemmed from her desire to focus on her music career. She also revealed that she started considering leaving around the time of the sophomore season.
Taylor Momsen left Gossip Girl after Season 4 to do ‘something else’ in life
Taylor Momsen appeared in the latest episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, where she looked back on her time starring in Gossip Girl and the paparazzi attention that came with it. During the discussion, the topic of when Momsen decided to depart the teen drama came up.
Momsen tried to recollect when she decided to depart the series. She first believed it was around Season 3, admitting she hadn’t seen the teen drama. However, Cooper reminded her that she left during Season 4.
The 32-year-old said that she started thinking of leaving around Season 2, which was when she formed her band, The Pretty Reckless. She said that meeting her bandmate, Ben Phillips, and late producer Kato Khandwala, “changed everything” for her.
“I knew I had to leave,” the Underdog actress said. She admitted that leaving her “prosperous” acting career wasn’t an easy decision, before quickly clarifying that it was easy.
“Not not sorry. I shouldn’t say not easy,” she further stated. Momsen stressed that getting out of her contract with CW and Warner Bros. proved difficult.
She explained that her departure involved numerous arguments demanding her release from her contract. “I can’t do this anymore. This is killing me,” she added. “Like, I have something else I want to do with my life and it has nothing to do with this, and I can’t be stuck here anymore.”
The How the Grinch Stole Christmas actress revealed she was called “ungrateful” for turning her back on a successful show. She said she reacted defensively, telling detractors that they didn’t understand what she was going through.
Momsen revealed that series creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage helped her by writing her out of the show, even though they couldn’t release her from her contract.
Further, Momsen revealed she didn’t inform her co-stars of her departure. “I kind of just Irish-dipped. I just wasn’t on the script the next week,” she said. “They all knew I was making music. They all knew I had a band.”
Originally reported by Abdul Azim Naushad on ComingSoon.
