Leighton Meester Feels ‘Gossip Girl’ Set Wasn’t ‘The Healthiest Environment’

Actress Leighton Meester sat down to discuss her new project, Single Parents, with Porter, a weekly e-zine. As Elle reports, the young mother spoke about her time on Gossip Girl, the show that catapulted her to fame. When asked if she missed being on set, the actress said no.

“It was a very special time, that was filled with challenges that have nothing to do with [Gossip Girl] and also sometimes things that did have something to do with it. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s sort of a time capsule,” Meester said. The actress was around 21 when she filmed the show, in which she played queen bee, Blair Waldorf. The filming schedule was a grueling one; the show was filmed on a Long Island studio five days a week, and the cast often spent up to 16 hours filming.

Meester added that though she initially struggled with the schedule and with learning who to trust. She said that she became lucky to find a group of friends early on during her time on the show. But the actress, who also starred in the movies That’s My Boy and The Roommate, said that she gets a lot of questions of her time on Gossip Girl.

“A lot of the questions that come from it are: ‘Do you miss it?’ ‘Did you love what you wore?’ And I understand that, but — and I say this with nothing but love — it is like saying, ‘High school was an amazing time for you, do you wish you could go back?’ And the truth is, it was so special and such a unique, amazing experience, but no, I wouldn’t wanna go back to it, I was a kid!”

Meester, who is married to The OC star Adam Brody, added that though she is not “haunted” by her time on the show, she admits that it may not have been the healthiest environment. Gossip Girl premiered in 2007. It followed a group of teens at a high school on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, lead by Serena van der Woodsen, portrayed by Blake Lively. Other cast mates included Ed Westwick, Peen Badgley, Chace Crawford, and Taylor Momson. The show’s narrator, the ever-present “Gossip Girl,” was played by Kristen Bell. The show is based on a series of books of the same name by author Cecily von Ziegesar.

The show aired its sixth and final season in 2012.