Taylor Momsen has opened up about her role in How the Grinch Stole Christmasin which the Grinch was bullied at school, and how something similar happened in her own life as a child.
During SiriusXM’s latest episode Crushed podcastthe Gossip Girl actress, who played Cindy Lou Who in the movie starring Jim Carrey, told hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari: “The Grinch has changed my life in a myriad of ways – one of which was being relentlessly fooled.”
“Anytime I would start a new school or move somewhere else, I don’t even think the kids knew my name. I was just Grinch Girl,” she added. “Not even the name of the character (Cindy Lou Who), just Grinch Girl.”
Momsen admitted that while she “got used to it” over time, it was still “alienating.”
The musician was only 7 years old when she received the Dr. Seuss movie, and she said moving to different schools as a child didn’t help her teasing her classmates. But once she was in high school and her life became more stationary, Momsen said she was able to build a group of friends.
“That was the first year…where I was in school, and I got a chance to try and actually make friends,” she said. “I put together a band. It was my first band, my high school band, a garage band. We were never able to decide on a name. But after school we did jam, and that was always fun. I sang, played guitar and wrote.”
But a few years later, she landed the role of Jenny Humphrey Gossip Girl in 2007 where she met Badgley and played his younger sister in the hit teen drama.
“So as soon as I started to settle into school as a normal kid, Gossip Girl came about, and I got uprooted to New York and the band fell apart,” she said. “We would grow up. It was a real bummer. And in New York I had to start it all over again, which didn’t take that long.”
Regarding her time in Whoville, Momsen previously reminisced about her experience filming the classic holiday movie at a movie interview with the Today show in 2020, to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary.
“I think people love each other The Grinch just because the core of the story is so sweet and heartwarming and it has such a good message,” she said at the time. “Apart from how great Jim Carrey’s performance is and the theatrical elements incorporated into the shots, the way the film looks, moves and is edited is amazing in its own right.”
