Perhaps one of the most popular teen dramas of its time, Gossip Girl became a global phenomenon since its pilot was released back in late 2007. The show followed the dramatic lives of young rich socialites attending a prestige high school in New York. In between twisted villains and steamy relationships, the fashionable characters of Gossip Girl navigated their youth with the overarching online presence of Gossip Girl, voiced by Kristen Bell, spying on their every move.
Following the show’s finale, the successful cast of the series went on to develop some pretty huge acting careers. A-list actors such as Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Chase Crawford, and Penn Badgley found their stepping stone into stardom in Gossip Girl. To this day, the cast of the original series isn’t shy to reflect on their years on the show and speak about their experiences on Gossip Girl. So let’s take a look at what Gossip Girl’s leading boys, Crawford and Badgley had to say about their time on the show.
8 It Took A While For Them To Process Their Fame
Upon its release back in 2007, Gossip Girl became a huge hit. The series amassed a huge global following throughout its 6 seasons. The young cast of the series quickly rose to fame through their roles as the young rich socialites they portrayed and thus were forced to learn to adjust to life in the public eye at a relatively young age. During an exclusive episode of Podcrushed, Gossip Girl stars Crawford and Badgley opened up about their time on the show and how their lives were changed because of it.
Crawford highlighted having to process being famous stating, “We were so young when we did Gossip Girl. Maybe a year or two afterward, you [Badgley] said something to the effect of ‘I’m still just sort of processing all that as I’m sure you are too’.” Before then adding, “I’ll never forget that because it made me think ‘Maybe I haven’t fully processed what we went through.’ It was crazy.”
7 People Still Associate Them With Their Gossip Girl Characters
Both Crawford and Badgley have developed pretty impressive careers on screen since leaving Gossip Girl through their leading roles in shows such as The Boys and You respectively. However, it seems as though the pair of young actors are still associated with their characters of Nate Archibald and Dan Humphries. During the Podcrushed interview, Badgley highlighted this as he mentioned fans still referring to him as Dan since the show’s finale back in 2012.
6 This Is How They Felt About The Attention They Gained From The Show
As previously stated, both the show and the Gossip Girl cast garnered significant global attention throughout the series’ 5-year run. Later on in the Podcrushed interview Crawford described the feeling of the attention as being like “Mickey Mouse in Disneyland” in the way that the public would see him as his character whenever he’d be in New York. Crawford then went on to reveal his struggles with paranoia that arose due to this.
5 This Is How They Felt When The Show Ended
Later in the Podcrushed interview, Badgley and Crawford opened up about how they dealt with fame and attention after the show ended. Crawford in particular compared the feeling to a retiring athlete. The actor spoke about what it had been like to spend so many years being recognized for something only to have it end abruptly, stating that a large sense of his identity had been “pulled out from under” him.
4 All In All, They Had A Good Experience Filming The Show
Despite the ups and downs that the pair faced throughout their run on Gossip Girl, it seems as though they are able to look back at their time on the show with a positive outlook. Towards the end of the Podcrushed interview, Crawford highlighted this as he looked back on the good memories that they had made while filming the show.
Crawford stated, “For all the crazy stuff we went through, we had such a good time,” He added, “We all had some good laughs and good mornings and good late nights on set. I mean it was a special time.”
3 Their Living Situation Matched The Dynamics Of The Show
Any fans of the series will remember the dynamics between the three leading males of the series, Nate Archibald (Crawford), Dan Humpries (Badgley), and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick). While rich boys and best friends Nate and Chuck went about their shenanigans, “lonely boy” Dan was cast to the side and seen as an outsider. During the Podcrushed interview, Crawford and Badgley poked fun at this dynamic as they revealed that during the filming of the show, Crawford and Westwick actually lived together without Badgley.
2 This Was The Most Difficult Scene To Film For Penn Badgley
Throughout the 5 years that Gossip Girl was on the air, fans saw a plethora of complicated ups and downs faced by the characters. It’s no surprise that some scenes were particularly difficult to film for the cast members. During an exclusive Explain This video for Esquire, Badgley opened up about what particular Gossip Girl scene he had found the worst to film.
The 35-year-old actor stated, “The last one, where I had to say, ‘Gossip Girl is dead,’... I could not keep it together. Something came over me and I just couldn’t say … I kept laughing, I just couldn’t stop, I was sweating, I was, like, having an out-of-body experience.”
1 Meanwhile, Chace Crawford Had No Idea What Was Going On In The Show
Unlike Badgley, it seems as though Crawford had a much breezier time filming Gossip Girl due to a very particular reason. During an interview with The Independent, Crawford revealed that during his time on the show, he had never watched a single episode or followed any other storylines. This resulted in Crawford having “no idea” of what was happening in the wider show around him.
The actor stated, “I had no idea what was going on in any other storyline because I just didn’t care”.
