Former Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen opens up about her tough decision to leave the hit series for music, her contract struggles, and how The Pretty Reckless changed her life.
For fans of Gossip Girl, Taylor Momsen’s departure after Season 3 felt sudden and bittersweet. As the rebellious Jenny Humphrey, Momsen became one of the most talked-about characters on the CW hit series. Yet behind the glamorous façade of the Upper East Side, the actress was quietly battling her own inner conflict — one that would ultimately change the course of her life and career.
During her appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, November 5, the 32-year-old actress and rock musician opened up about her decision to leave Gossip Girl and how it wasn’t as simple as it may have appeared from the outside.
“Leaving a career that is so prosperous was not easy,” Momsen admitted. “It was an easy decision for me in my heart, but to actually get out of a contract was not easy.”
A Whirlwind Start in Hollywood
Momsen rose to fame at an early age, starring as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas before becoming a teenage fashion icon as Jenny Humphrey. When Gossip Girl premiered in 2007, it was an instant cultural phenomenon — a mix of high fashion, scandal, and ambition that defined a generation of TV drama.
“Season 1’s a whirlwind,” she recalled. “You’re doing press, filming constantly, and getting swept into something way bigger than you expected.”
But as her acting career soared, Momsen found herself increasingly drawn toward music. Her passion project, the rock band The Pretty Reckless, began taking shape while she was still on set. “I wanted to leave the show around Season 2,” she said, explaining that her heart was in music, not television.
“This Is Killing Me”
Leaving a hit series, however, wasn’t something she could just decide on her own. “It started with ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’” Momsen said, “but you’re in a lock and key contract with CW, Warner Brothers — all of that stuff.”
Bound by a legal agreement, she couldn’t simply walk away. “It was a very long battle of me arguing with everyone — ‘Go and get me out of this. I can’t do this anymore. This is killing me.’ I had something else I wanted to do with my life, and it had nothing to do with this.”
Her decision wasn’t well received at first. Many people in the industry labeled her as ungrateful for turning her back on such a successful career. “How dare you turn your back on something that’s been so successful for you?” she remembered hearing. “It was hard to hear that, but I just went, ‘F*** you.’ I was very defensive.”
Finding Freedom Through Music
Despite the criticism, Momsen refused to give up. When traditional methods failed, she turned to Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage for help. To her surprise, they listened — and ultimately supported her dream.
“I really have to credit them for doing that for me, because they didn’t have to,” Momsen said. “They wrote me out of the show so I could go on tour and be in a band.”
Her final appearance as Jenny Humphrey came in the Season 3 finale, “Last Tango, Then Paris.” In one of the show’s most dramatic moments, Jenny sleeps with Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) just before Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) confesses her love for him. The fallout leads Blair to banish Jenny from New York — a fitting exit for a character constantly struggling to find her place.
Momsen revealed that her last day on set was also Jenny’s final scene. “I think it’s me on the train going to live with my mom, or whatever the write-out story was,” she said. “I’m leaning on the window. I think that was the wrap scene, which is very fitting.”
She didn’t make a big announcement or even tell her castmates she was leaving. “They all knew I had a band,” she said with a laugh. “I would play them stuff because I was working on the first record while I was on the show. But I don’t think anyone knew how serious I was at that stage.”
Full Circle
After stepping away from acting, Momsen poured herself completely into music. The Pretty Reckless went on to become a major success, with chart-topping albums like Going to Hell and Death by Rock and Roll. Her transformation from teen actress to rock frontwoman was nothing short of remarkable.
Still, she couldn’t resist returning to Gossip Girl one last time. “I came back for the very finale,” she said. “As a fan of television and a fan of the shows I love, when you have the full cast together again, you want to full circle that and round it out.”
That final appearance in 2012 gave fans a sense of closure — not just for Jenny Humphrey, but for Momsen herself.
A Journey of Self-Discovery
Today, Taylor Momsen is proud of her journey. What once seemed like rebellion was really a young artist fighting for her creative freedom. “Leaving Gossip Girl wasn’t about being ungrateful,” she reflected. “It was about survival — about choosing what I needed to do to feel alive.”
Her honesty about the difficulties of leaving such a lucrative career highlights the pressure young stars often face in Hollywood. Yet her courage to follow her passion reminds others that success isn’t just about fame — it’s about fulfillment.
Fifteen years later, Momsen has no regrets. She’s built the life she always wanted: one filled with music, authenticity, and artistic freedom. As she put it best, “It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary.”
[…] Taylor Momsen Reveals Why She Left Gossip Girl: “It Wasn’t Easy, But It Was Necessary […]