I don’t know much about 25 year-old Gossip Girl actress Jessica Szohr, except for the fact that she’s hot and heavy again with her co-star and on-off lover, smarmy-hot Ed Westwick. In a new interview with Parade, Jessica has some kind of mature things to say about the nature of fame and dealing with gossip. She claims to deliberately ignore it, particularly Internet gossip, but you can tell that she’s had a peek and been bothered by some of the things she’s read about herself online:

An intense fan encounter.
“I was walking out of my trailer [on the set of Gossip Girl] and this girl gave me this little [Hello Kitty] keychain. And I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you so much.’ I kept walking with my security guard and he goes, ‘Gimme that.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ So he takes it and he’s squishing it and I’m like ‘Why are you hurting Hello Kitty?’ And he said, ‘I worked on Sex and the City way too long — people can get crazy.’ Then he looked at the seam and he’s like, ‘See, this isn’t right. The seam should be sewn differently.’ So he rips off the head and there was a microphone in it. I think that was during the second season, and that’s when I was like, ‘Wow, this is weird — that people will go that far to know things about me.'”

She doesn’t let real-life gossip get her down.
“I don’t read blogs, I don’t have MySpace, I don’t have Facebook or Twitter — none of that. I decided to stay in L.A. to become an actor…to tell stories and work with amazing actors and filmmakers. So when something does hit, or a show does blow up like Gossip Girl did, you don’t know what to expect. With that, with how popular the show has gotten here and overseas and everything, people do want to know [more about you]. And the other thing is, and it’s sad to say, but when you’re coming up, people want to bring you down. It’s crazy. I’m going to have fans and I’m going to have people who don’t like everything I do. All I can really do is go to work and do my job. Hopefully, I’m doing a good job and people will enjoy it and be entertained. You can’t please everyone and I can drive myself crazy by reading these blogs. But, you know, I don’t want to hear it. It’s not always going to be great and it’s not always going to be bad; it is what it is. But I’m me, and if you don’t know me behind closed doors, whether it’s good or bad, you don’t really have a place to say anything because you don’t know me.”

[From Parade]

Jessica was on Regis and Kelly yesterday, and I found the video on YouTube (below.) She talks about how she broke into the business and really impressed me with how level headed and smart she is. She’s the oldest of five children and grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, having moved to LA to pursue a career after she worked as a teen model. She said her family is “really supportive,” and “my whole town has been amazing. I still talk to my old Principal and my old teachers.” Of her success, she said “I’m really honored and blessed.” She seemed so normal and nice and even gave a shout out to her brother, who is recovering in the hospital after an accident. I’m definitely going to pay more attention to her.

Jessica is promoting her role on the 3D film Piranha, with Richard Dreyfuss, Eli Roth, Elisabeth Shue and Christopher Lloyd. She calls it “a fun, entertaining, scary popcorn summer movie.” It’s out in the US on August 20, and here’s a link to the trailer. It looks unintentionally funny and the piranha effects seem scary.

Jessica is shown outside Regis & Kelly yesterday. She talked about her one giant earring while she was on the show and joked that she wanted to start a trend. Credit: CWNY/Fame Pictures