Gossip Girl cast ages: How old was the cast then and where are they now?
By Sabrina Reed
The original Gossip Girl series, which aired from Sept. 19, 2007 to Dec. 17, 2012, was a hit for CW when the fledgling merger of WB and UPN was finding its legs. It was the first original series of the new network that popped and wasn’t a carry over from the previous channels.
The show fit right into the teen drama legacy that both networks had fostered, but it added a different storytelling element: rich, spoiled, scandalous teens in the Upper East Side getting up to no good and falling in love all while being watched and posted about by a mysterious figure they all sent tips and pictures to regularly.
On its face, it sounds horrific and stalker-ish, but it made for good TV. It was the kind of show the phrase “appointment television” was coined to explain a TV watchers need to be home and seated on the couch promptly at the time their show premieres a new episode.
The main cast of Gossip Girl–Leighton Meester, Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford, and Taylor Momsen–became household names and have since gone onto star in other shows and films and front their own bands. How old were they when the series first premiered and how old are they now? Here’s what we know!
Gossip Girl cast ages (then and now)
Leighton Meester age
Born: April 9, 1986
Meester donned the bejeweled headband of Blair Waldorf aka Queen B when she was 21 years old. The iconic role would carry her through six seasons with the show. She put her mantle as a Queen of New York City up when she was 26, and now nearly 11 years later, Meester is still acting.
Though she will never reprisal the role of the fearsome teen (and then twentysomething) she rose to prominence playing, she has had a steady career ever since. The 36 year old is currently in Hulu’s How I Met Your Father as Meredith, a singer-songwriter who went viral when she rejected her ex-boyfriend’s proposal.
She’s also married to Adam Brody whose known for his own turn as an iconic teen character. He played Seth Cohen in The O.C. They have two kids together.
Blake Lively age
Born: Aug. 25, 1987
Lively had just turned 20 when Gossip Girl debuted in 2007. Like her co-star, Leighton Meester, she wasn’t that far removed from the twisting drama of high school, however, the scandalous lives of their fictional counterparts danced across the line of the typical American teen experience. At the time that she’d stepped into the high heels of Serena van der Woodsen, Lively was already known for her work in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
After she finished the CW original at 25, she focused exclusively on film. In fact, Lively’s only TV role is Gossip Girl. All of her other work has been in movies though 2020’s The Rhythm Section was the last time she’s graced the big screen. Currently, she’s working behind the scenes as a director, she’ll be making her feature debut with an adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel Seconds.
Lively is married to fellow actor Ryan Reynolds. The two met on the set of DC’s Green Lantern. They have three kids with one on the way. They’re also close friends with Taylor Swift.
Penn Badgley age
Born: Nov. 1, 1986
Badgley was 20 when Gossip Girl started airing but celebrated his 21st birthday part way through the season. Teen audiences would have known him for his role as Scott Tucker in John Tucker Must Die. His turn as Dan Humphrey took a wild, unexpected, and nonsensical direction in the show’s final season, but he played the literary, scholarship kid counterpart to his affluent and decadent friend group/romantic circle in the earlier parts of the series. The CW loves a good outsider with a penchant for writing and that’s who the lofty goal oriented Humphrey was.
The actor mostly worked in film after the show ended when he was 26, though he’s best known for the films that hit theaters during his CW days: Stepfather, Easy A, and Greetings from Tim Buckley. Nowadays the 36 year old is famous for his work as Joe Goldberg in the smash hit Lifetime turned Netflix original series You which returns for part 1 of its first season Feb. 2023. He’s also a producer on the show.
Aside of acting, Badgley is also a musician and fronts the Brooklyn based band, MOTHXR. He’s married to fellow singer and actress Domino Kirke, they share a child together and Badgley is the stepfather to Kirke’s child from a previous relationship.
Ed Westwick age
Born: June 27, 1987
Westwick had only been in L.A. a month when he’d landed the role of Chuck Bass. The English actor, who was 20 at the time, had hopped across the pond because there wasn’t much work in the U.K. So began his turn as the incomparable, controversial, and hedonistic heir.
Gossip Girl was a part of Westwick’s life for five years. After the show ended, he continued starring in film and television roles. His most recent being the 2021 movie, Me You Madness, and the British sitcom White Gold which ran from 2019-2019. Westwick is 35 years old.
Chace Crawford age
Born: July 18, 1985
Crawford was the oldest of the main cast when Gossip Girl first began airing but not by much. He was 22 years old and had already garnered a bit of name in teen circles for his role in The Covenant. As Nate Archibald, Crawford initially played the golden boy between Queen B and Queen S who’d grown up with both of them but was enamored with Serena despite being in a relationship with Blair. Chuck Bass was his best friend.
By the end of the series, Crawford was 27 years old and was focused on roles in movies, particularly horror films. He appeared in a couple animated series, and played a lead in the short-lived Blood & Oil series, before being cast as Kevin Moskowitz aka The Deep in the hit Prime Video superhero drama The Boys . He’s currently 37 years old.
Taylor Momsen age
Born: July 26, 1993
Momsen was the lone teenager a part of the main cast when the show premiered. She was 14 years old just like the character she played, Jenny Humphrey, Dan’s little sister and an aspiring fashion designer. By the time the series ended, Momsen was still a teen on the cusp of her twenties, she was 19 years old and had made a name for herself outside of Gossip Girl with her music.
Nowadays, people know Momsen as the frontwoman for The Pretty Reckless, a hard rock band she founded in 2009. They’ve released four albums, the latest being 2021’s Death by Rock and Roll. The band’s single, “Kill Me,” was played in Gossip Girl‘s final episode.
Momsen is 29 years old. She hasn’t acted in film or television since the series ended and instead has focused on making music and touring.
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