Taylor Momsen Opens up About Her 'Gossip Girl' Exit

11 years after the end of Gossip Girl, Taylor Momsen is opening up about her exit from The CW drama. Via Entertainment Weekly, the Pretty Reckless singer appeared on an episode of her former co-star and on-screen brother, Penn Badgley's podcast, Podcrushed. The two talked all about Momsen's time on the series and her being a child star. She even got real about her exit in the third season. She admitted that acting "was a childhood thing that I got put into at two years old. I wasn't making my own choices then."

"Literally, as soon as I got to an age where I could make my own decisions, it was like a click," Momsen continued. "I woke up one morning and went, 'Wait a second. I don't have to do this? I don't have to do this other job? I can just play in my band and tour and write songs? I can just do that?'" It wasn't so easy, though. Momsen revealed that it was "a little more complicated to get out of a television show." While she could leave the series, it did come with a price. She explained that production said they couldn't let her out of her deal, but they could write her out of the show so she could go on tour. The downside is that she couldn't act in anything else.

Taylor Momsen did say that she was "fine" with the deal, noting that production "really allowed me to follow my dream, and I'm forever grateful and thankful to them for that." After playing Jenny Humphrey for four seasons and sometimes causing quite the trouble, Momsen officially exited Gossip Girl in the Season 4 finale. She returned for the series finale, where it was revealed she not only knew her big bro was GG, but she also works as a designer for Blair's fashion empire. It seemingly indicated that Jenny and Blair had buried the hatchet after Jenny slept with Chuck. They even created their own clothing line.

Even though Momsen left Gossip Girl after Season 4, it was still nice to see her back in the series finale. Plus, she was able to focus on her rock band, The Pretty Reckless, which is still going strong to this day. Since 2010, they have released four albums, with the most recent being in 2021. They have done five headlining tours and wrapped up their Death by Rock and Roll Tour earlier this year in support of the album of the same name. While Momsen hasn't acted since Gossip Girl, she still seems to be doing pretty well for herself. Seeing her reunite with her on-screen brother just takes us right back to 2008, regardless.