I always thought that Leighton Meester could be Rachel McAdams’ sister. And then I thought she looked just like Minka Kelly. And nowadays, with her current bangs situation, doesn’t she look like Rose Byrne? Anyway, Leighton covers the new issue of Marie Claire… for some reason. Gossip Girl, maybe. I like Leighton a great deal – I think she’s very pretty and out of the Gossip Girl cast, she’s the better actress. But she doesn’t even get a fraction of the attention Blake Lively gets. Why is that? Is it because Blake’s hustle is just so magnificent, or is it because Leighton’s hustle is barely there? I don’t know. You can read the full Marie Claire piece here, and here are some highlights:
She’s not good at bowling: “I never played sports. I wasn’t any good at them.”
She wasn’t born in jail: Meester’s mother, Constance, gave birth to her while serving federal prison time for drug trafficking. Meester was not, she has oft clarified, born in jail. She was delivered in a hospital, then transferred to a halfway house for three months, after which she was sent to live with her grandmother until Constance’s release. Her father, Doug, also served time for drug-related offenses. He and Constance would later divorce.
Leighton on her family: “My family has a crazy history,” she acknowledges. “Probably the craziest I’ve heard of.” But it was not, she is quick to point out, Dickensian in its misery. “I look back now and I see it in a nice light,” Meester says of her youth in Marco Island, Florida. “It wasn’t uncomplicated. But I played outside. I went to the beach. There were happy, fun times.”
She doesn‘t believe in self-pity: “You can take what is handed to you and use it as an excuse to mess up. But I’ve always handled what was given to me by life. I consider myself lucky. I was never lied to. And I was loved.”
Taking adult acting classes as a kid: “I couldn’t relate to kid stuff. ‘Jimmy doesn’t like me!’ Who cares? I was worried we didn’t have gas money or food. Those were my concerns.”
Suffering: “When you see how you react when you suffer,” she explains, “that’s when you know what you are made of.”
On boyfriends: “I never had a boyfriend until I was 18. It’s nice, I guess — when you like them. But it isn’t the most important thing.”
She doesn’t care about marriage: “I’m not sure I ever want to get married,” the 25-year-old adds. “The only time a relationship is good is when you really love them. I don’t want to hang out with some guy I just like.”
[From Marie Claire]
Alright, I take it back – she has hustle. She has a really strong work ethic and a great perspective on her life and the business she’s in. So why does Blake Lively get all of the attention? Maybe Leighton makes that same mistake that so many people with awesome work ethics make: she thinks she’s being judged solely on her work and her attitude. She’s not. At least not in Hollywood.
Still, I really like this girl. I just wish she would lose the bangs.
Photos courtesy of Marie Claire.
She doesn’t have big boobs or long legs. Blake does.
I still really like Leighton though and think she’s a decent actress.
+1
She also doesn’t aim to date popular actors or make sure the tabs have a detailed biography on how each man is head over heels and ready to propose.
I imagine Blake, having already suffered a backlash that lost her what would have been a good role, will have the quick ‘Who was that again’ Hollywood career that devolves into merely showing up to events and being seen with famous guys.
And Leighton is hoping for something a little more substantial and long lasting. Hence she doesn’t want to famewhore and is careful with her image.
Or maybe the popular actors don’t want to date her?
Anyway I don’t want to get into Leighton v Blake b****fest.
First because I like both and second there’s already an amusing and accurate one going on in the latter posts!
Lol, if you didn’t want it to then your reply was pretty unnecessary.
The point was that Leighton keeps her personal life private, I have no clue who she’s dating or interested in dating. Who’s super jealous of her for dating who she’s dating or etc. It’s a different way of handling being an actor which is respectable.
and out of the Gossip Girl cast, she’s the better actress.
If that’s not damning with faint praise, I don’t know what is 😉
lol
I just watched the roommate. Shitty film but she was really good in it.
She sounds so genuine, and refreshing. I completely understand her marriage comment.
Wow, I like her even more after this interview.
She’s definitely not playing the pr game as well as Blake because she can act circles around her.
I like her, too. Beautiful face and a good actress with a good attitude is rare.
I really like this girl too. She is smart, beautiful and really willing to put herself out there. I haven’t watched GG in forever but she was always always my favorite and far more talented than Boobs Legsy. I hope that her career after the WB is comparable to that of Michelle Williams and she leave the rest of them in her dust.
I like the bangs.
I do too.
Me too! She looks a lot like Keira Knightly to me here.
Yes. This is how you do bangs.
Lol she hustles just as much as they all do, people are just to busy hating on Blake to realize. This girl would sign up for any and every endorsement that would have her, at a point she was shilling for like 5 different companies at once.
She’s cooled down now part of which could be attributed to the backlash to her bizarro wanna-be Gaga period. Her attention-whoring outfits and make-up then were legendary and hilarious, she was probably rivaling Taylor Momsen at that point.
But to your point Kaiser, the main reason she isn’t as big outside of GG is that there’s nothing distinctive about her, which you mentioned she looks like McAdams, Minka Kelly and is in the same class with the doll faced brunettes like Rachel Bilson, Katie Holmes, Victoria Justice etc.
ease up on the hateorade dude
how is she an attentionwhore? girl has had plenty of opportunities to get in the spotlight with her family drama and she hasn’t, nor has she the done the PR-relationship, or planted false stories anywhere or done staged candids.. The ‘sextape’ you speak of in another comment was a series of pictures that she never played on nor made a big deal of? she handled it quietly
and how often do we even see pictures of her anywhere? I’m a fan of her and I can’t even find anything most days unless there is something to promote
just because u like Blake you don’t have to hate on Leighton and vice versa. It’s ok to like both and to realize that they both have different approaches to how they want to handle their careers..
I’m just serving what other people here dish to Blake. It’s only fair isn’t it? And she does attend more events than Blake (a fact that was documented even in WWD) people just don’t notice it because they don’t obsess over hating her like they do for Blake and Kaiser won’t feature it because it doesn’t bring the hate-hits like Blake does. I remember her family drama getting a full page US Weekly cover arranged by her PR folks and her setting up pap photo-ops when news of her sex-tape leaked.
On the contrary, I don’t hate and even find her really talented but let’s not pretend she’s a saint just because she isn’t Blake Lively. They all play the game and I can’t hate them for it at all.
Oh and I’m a lady btw 😉
Rory, I think you kinda have to hustle in Hollywood when you’re young and unknown, you know? I can’t fault her for that because so few of these actresses get a chance to become long lasting stars like Meryl Streep or Susan Sarandon. I’d shill and hustle too if I knew my acting career was going to have the life span of a mayfly. But I do remember that time when she tried to break into the music scne. It was very bizarre. And she does have very bland looks, pretty, but bland.
There’s nothing distinctive about Blake either. Blake gets more attention because she’s blonde, leggy, has a GREAT PR team, dates A listers and makes sure she gets papped with them.
I hope Leighton makes it outside of GG. She has something.
There’s nothing I love more than the shrill cries of Leighton stans. Don’t dish it if you can’t take it dears. Good luck with her having the Meryl Streep/Susan Sarandon type of career. The Roommate, Monte Carlo, That’s My Boy… yeah, she’s snatching wigs alright *snicker*
Wow – when you compare her attitude to Kim Kardashian’s attitude, she’s a breath of fresh air.
Lol they do share sex tapes in common so I don’t know how different their characters really are.
Why do you sound so pressed though?
Why you mad tho?
I mainly love her versatility in regards to acting.
She can play a bitch in Gossip Girl, a total creepy stalker psycho in the Roomate, and a sweet innocent singer in Country Strong. And I found her believable in each role, which isn’t the case with a lot of actresses trying out different types of characters.
She’s not successful because she has sort of a bland face (she looks like too many people) and people can’t talk about her without bringing up Blake Lively. She has to carve her own way.
She is beautiful and way too talented of an actress for the CW. That being said, I do watch GG and only because of her (and the Chuck/Dan relationships she has).
She somewhat reminds me of Kiera Knightly in this shoot.
It was a good interview. I liked her determination and grounded personality. I also 100% agree with her stance on marriage. It is refreshing.
I don’t know why people talk about Blake as if she is some HUGE movie star. Big difference btwn tabloid star and movie star. Blake provide good gossip and drama. That’s it–and that doesn’t take much talent or skill. Leighton isn’t putting herself out there as some sex bomb and I think that will help her in the long run. She has a pretty, yet average face, which is also another plus. When you are some sex’d up female star, it is hard to be taken seriously (a la Blake.) If you are low key, down to earth and not involved in a bunch of fake Hollywood drama, it is easier to lose yourself in roles. That also makes it easier for people to see the character you are trying to portray.
She needs to go the Anne Hathaway/Keira Knightley/Natalie Portman way.
She’s an unsexy version of Minka Kelly…her role in the Roommate was basically based on that.
Also, say what you will about Blake Lively but she takes better roles than Meester…the town, sisterhood, a couple of little indies.Yeah Green Lantern sucked but it grossed over 200m worldwide. Monte Carlo and the Roommate are hardly helping Leighton out.
to Rory!! her attention-whoring outfit?? you crazy?? i dont know whether you are talking about her character Blair or Herself outside gg, she has always had a class and elegance,giving a message ‘attention-i aint a whore’ lets say if you rly prefer to compare, blake quite shows off…i dnt hate blake either..but talent wise leighton is on apex of the whole gossip girl crew,blake aint even close…like blake gains attention outside gg, for me blair earns all my attention in gg…
Leighton went to acting school, yeah I’d be very worried if she didn’t shine brighter than Blake in GG, at least initially. Her character and performance have become shrill and one-note ever since. Both in and out of GG, it’s all a shade of Blair Waldorf.
Pls google her American Eagle performance outfits for evidence before you start accusing me of talking crap.
p.s. I’m done for the day. Anyway I don’t hate Leighton, in fact, I quite like her. Just thought y’all should know how it feels to be on the other side sometime :p We can all easily and quickly sling crap about anyone.
She seems smart and down-to-earth. Now peek the better projects, please
Leighton is wonderful and she hasn’t given up music, she is working with a band and has a facebook page related to her next album which is going to be more acoustic. I’ve been watching GG a lot more this year because her character is being put together with Penn’s and I love the chemistry.
So I looked up her old music videos again and I enjoyed them! I know she did that song with Cobra Starship and one with Robin Thicke. I think she was just trying to do fun pop/dance music and now that she is going more acoustic it’s just an evolution. She also sung in Country Strong.
There are definitely a few actresses that try to sing and can’t or just make bad music but there are others where you accept their side career because it’s genuine or you can tell they are really trying or just haivng fun and not taking themselves too seriously. Depends what they are going for.
I think Leighton was combinging her love of music and her acting abilities to do that pop/dance phase and now she is moving on. I actually wouldn’t judge her for it, at the time I didn’t like it but now I see at as an artistic phase. Can’t wait for her next incarnation.
I agree with the person that hopes her career goes the way of Michelle Williams (without the tragedy) she has earned it!I think she is just an artist all around really.
I love her and wish her all the success in the world. It´s sad that someone as charismatic as her is struggling, and non-talents like Lively or KStew get everything shoved up their asses.
As a man, I agree. Women cant depend on us. We just want short term gains especially once the novelty wears off, so do you. Most men dont have a lot of money and we dont want anything serious anymore. Just sex. Like all the time. The women that dont depend on us or care too much have figured it out already: men dont really care for chicks, kids or marriage, JUST SEX. We dont invest a third as much into our relationships/marriages as you but come out with kids and you even lose your hard earned career to stay with kids. Take care of yourselves because men are nothing but selfish. We say we like yall but we like ourselves far more. Im crossing enemy lines here but heed this advice. DONT EVER drop your life for a man or some brats. We have no shame in leaving you for another or cheating again and again with all girls and types and escorts as well. Never stop working and be a housewife. You will need your career more than a man.
The facts are simply great and they really look very nice. You will find that you have a great time in getting the things too.
Yay! Love me some Leighton.
I’m not too worried about her. We’ll see about Blake, but I’m pretty sure Leighton will land a breakout role soon enough and win some big awards. Even in bad films she shines, so with the right material it could be epic.
Pretty sure that Leighton is not in danger of dying career wise.I think she’s been careful in her career planning to balance GG and her love of music and take on occasional movie roles as the show goes on. After GG, which I heard next season – 6 – will be the last, let’s see how she goes. She has several movies upcoming, including The Oranges with Hugh Laurie and a new comedy with Adam Sandler too.
Without doubts shadow, you Leighton Messter lets clear that besides an excellent actress and a lovely singer with a sweet, soft voice and with a singular rhythm, an unquestionable talent also is a mature, serious woman, a winner in front of so many obstacles, just is not one more beautiful little face on television, but a person worthy of all respect and admiration ! Good luck Miss Leighton Messter ! Brazil’s Cordial Greetings !