Taylor Momsen is the latest guest on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and recalls the struggle she had to leave Season 4 of The CW’s “Gossip Girl.” Before appearing on Gossip Girl, Momsen was a child actress who had already appeared in major films such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Spy Kids 2, and she originated the role of Jenny Humphrey in the series. Jenny was one of the most divisive characters. Momsen wanted to leave the show in season 4 to pursue her dream of touring with her band, The Pretty Reckless.
“I was kind of immersed in Ireland, and the next week I wasn’t in the script,” Momsen said (via E! News). “They all knew I was making music. They all knew I was forming a band. While I was on the show, I was working on my first record, so I was playing them stuff. I would come and play songs…but I don’t think anyone knew how serious I was at that stage.”
“It was an easy decision for me,” she continued. “It wasn’t easy to actually get the deal… It was a very long battle, arguing with everyone and saying, ‘Please get me out of here. I can’t do this anymore. This is really killing me. I have other things I want to do with my life. It has nothing to do with this. I can’t stay here any longer.'”
Momsen said that despite her pleas, studio executives at Warner Bros. Television considered her “ungrateful” for trying to leave the popular TV series, adding, “‘That’s the kind of thing people say to me for turning my back on something that’s been so successful for me.'”
“I just said, ‘Fuck you. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re not in my shoes, so how can you judge this?'” Momsen said. “I was very defensive, but in the end I couldn’t get out of the contract. The president of Warner Bros. said, ‘Fuck you, Taylor Momsen. That’s ridiculous.'”
Luckily for Momsen, she had Gossip Girl showrunners Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz on her side. They agreed to drop Jenny from the show in season 4, even though Momsen still had time left on her contract. This meant that even if Momsen was no longer written into the script, she would not be able to appear in any other productions until her Gossip Girl contract expired. Fortunately, Momsen wasn’t planning on acting anyway, as she pivoted to her music career full-time.
“I really have to give them credit for doing that for me, because even though they didn’t have to, they took me off the show so I could go on tour and join the band,” Momsen said, noting that she still holds no grudges against Gossip Girl all these years later. She reprized her role as Jenny in the series finale in 2012.
“As a fan of television and a fan of the show, I’m so happy to see the entire cast together again,” Momsen said. “I want to go around it and make it round.”
You can watch Momsen’s full interview on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” in the video below.
