Taylor Momsen says she was “relentlessly” bullied over role in ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’
Taylor Momsen has said she was “relentlessly” bullied after starring in How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
The singer and former actor, who had her breakout role aged seven as Cindy Lou in the 2000 live-action film opposite Jim Carrey, explained on the Podcrushed podcast how she was labelled “Grinch Girl” by her classmates at school.
“The Grinch changed my life in a multitude of ways – one of them being I was made fun of relentlessly,” Momsen said. “Every time I would start a new school or go somewhere else, I don’t even think the kids knew my name. I was just Grinch Girl. Not even the character name, just Grinch Girl. I got used to it, but it was alienating.”
Momsen was later cast in Gossip Girl when she was 12-years-old, at a time when she had made a group of friends in school. She was “convinced” by “larger powers”, however, to leave her friends behind and move to New York for the role.
Speaking on the podcast, hosted by her former Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley, Momsen said she felt out of place with many of her co-stars due to her young age.
“I didn’t fit in with you guys, I didn’t fit in with Connor [Paolo]’s friends – I was younger than them,” she explained. “I was the new girl. I was Grinch girl. I was always in this kind of weird, isolated world, partially of my own creating, probably.”
Momsen – who played Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl – quit acting to focus on her music career following the show’s finale in 2012.
Since 2009, she has been the frontwoman of band The Pretty Reckless, who released their fourth album, ‘Death By Rock And Roll’, in 2021.
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Adam Starkey
NME
