We fell head over heels, madly, totally and deeply in love with Leighton Meester on Gossip Girl.
Blair Waldorf is one of the best characters in TV history and we will physically fight anyone who says differently.
But Leighton Meester says in a new interview that she actually didn’t love her time on this CW hit…
… and she explains in detail her reasons why.
"I would get there at 5 a.m. and leave at 8 p.m.," the actress tells the latest issue of PorterEdit magazine. "A lot of days I didn’t see the sun."
Don’t get the star wrong; she knows how lucky she was to work with Chace Crawford, Penn Badgley, Blake Lively, Taylor Momsen and Ed Westwick and to be on a series that lasted for many years.
("It’s the best-case scenario that a show could ever go for six years," she says. "It doesn’t happen often.")
Still, though.
There were nearly just as many downs as there were ups during Meester’s stint on the iconic drama.
"I was young when I started Gossip Girl," she expounds, detailing how having such a giant hit at this age is both a blessing and a curse:
"A lot more people were suddenly around and I was being looked at.
"If you don’t have the right perspective, you could definitely be confused by people being that nice to you or judging you for behavior that’s typical of a 20-, 21-year-old, making mistakes but having to make them very publicly,.
"I’m not haunted by that time, but it’s been interesting and helpful for me to look at it and examine it as an adult and go, ‘I don’t know if it was the healthiest environment.’"
Gossil Girl ran from 2007 through 2012.
The last couple seasons were trash, but those first few found the perfect mixture of comedy, drama, irony and tone.
You should really go watch Gossip Girl online and catch up if you’ve somehow never viewed the program.
"Everyone has their own journey, especially in their early twenties when they’re just figuring out who they are," continues Meester in this interview.
"Because of the success of [Gossip Girl], I was put in a place where that journey was sped up. I had to figure it out quickly and with not a completely developed mind to discern between what’s real and what’s not, who I can trust and who I can’t.
"I got really lucky and was able to very early on find and stay friends with people who are true."
Gossip Girl was a "special time." Meester does not want to give the impression otherwise.
But does she miss it? That’s a very different question.
"I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s sort of a time capsule…
"I say this with nothing but love – it is like saying, ‘High school was an amazing time for you. Do you wish you could go back?’ And the truth is, it was so special and such a unique, amazing experience, but no, I wouldn’t wanna go back to it.
"I was a kid!"
And now that she’s grown up, Meester will be portraying a single mother on the new ABC sitcom this fall, Single Parents.
She’s come a long, long way.