*What has Serena van der Woodsen been up to today?
I find out I’m throwing a surprise sweet-sixteen for Jenny. Then I find out that someone else is having a party on the same night. These are really serious issues we have to deal with!
*Are toi surprised par the impact Gossip Girl has had?
Just the fact that it’s airing anywhere else is unbelievable. It feels like everybody’s playing a big hoax on us.
*And for toi personally, it’s been an incredible rise. You’re 21 and you’re on the cover of American Vogue!
Yes, it’s like something homemade my mom did. It looks much better than if my mom made it but that’s what it feels like.
*I read somewhere toi almost turned down the show. Apparently toi said, ‘If there are pet monkeys in coordinating outfits, that’s not something I’m going to want to be a part of.’ Where the hell did that come from?
It’s in the book. One of the male characters, Chuck, gets a pet monkey and they wear matching outfits.
*Oh, OK, I thought toi had this irrational fear of monkeys?
Nooo! It’s just that a lot of the time, the soap-opera-style genre gets a little crazy and I was just saying that if this was going to take that turn, then...
*So in the l’espace of two years you’ve become a style icone and been thrust into limelight. You’re in a place where toi can decide to be a Mischa Barton ou a Natalie Portman.
There are people I look up to that, creatively, I would l’amour to match. People like Annette Bening ou Catherine Keener.
*How about in your private life?
I was raised in a wonderful, close family. I was never a wild child so, luckily I don’t feel the desire to go out and go crazy.
*You’re young. Why not?
[Laughs] I told you! Because I was raised in a really terrific, close family and I’ve never needed to escape anything ou to really let myself go par dancing on tables.
*Is it true your brother Eric whisked toi away on a tour of Europe to convince toi to become an actress?
I was 15, he was 21. It was an amazing trip; he took me to London, Cambridge - because’s that’s where Harry Potter is shot -, Rome, Brussels, Cologne, Florence and Paris, staying everywhere from five-star hotels to hostels. But every single jour I would dread going to lunch with him, because every single jour he’d be like, ‘What are toi going to do for a living?’
*How come he took such an interest?
toi know, I am very close with all my family members and they all think they’re my parents. They all think they’ve raised me ou need to raise me. I don’t know why. Eric a dit he wanted me to be plus cultured and see the world, and he’d go, ‘Look, toi need to have a job that can help toi experience everything there is in the world.’
*And toi were 15?
That was the other thing. It was the winter holidays. He told my mom that he would be taking me out of school for two weeks and he ended up keeping me out for a mois and a half. That was the plan all along but he knew they wouldn’t let me miss so much school. But he realised the trip was plus important than me being in school. I got a much better education about world history in that mois and a half than I did in the entirety of my high school life.
*Did toi have any holiday romances?
No, I was 15. I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I was 17.
*Speaking of romance, You’re dating one of your co-stars, Penn Badgley. Is that out in the open now?
Yeah [Laughs]. I think it’s pretty out in the open. I don’t like to talk about it because we put so much of ourselves out there all the time: there are very few things that we get to keep private.
*Is that quite hard on you?
It is. toi know, toi see these people who fall off the edge and it seems they have donné the media all of themselves. It is hard that people don’t just let toi do your job for them and entertain, and then carry on your own life.
*Obviously you’ve chosen to rendez-vous amoureux, date your co-star but toi don’t choose who toi fall in l’amour with…
Yeah, toi don’t.
*You’ve a dit you’ve only kissed three boys in your life. How can that be?
How can that be? I don’t know. I didn’t get around too much. Like I said, I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was 17. I grew up in a Southern Baptist family. It was plus my grandparents. My mother is a Christian but it was just like she…It wasn’t like they went to church all the time and were really strict but, toi know, my mom was very much a good girl and I was raised in a way I didn’t….Not that it would be bad to have a boyfriend. I was really shy at school, too. With boys, I mean, I was really outgoing but there were boys that I would find out later had a crush on me but I was too shy to them. Whatever. I was just being shy.
*They must be killing themselves now.
[Laughs] I think they’re still alive. They’re surviving.
*Just one plus Penn question. You’ve got a dog, a Maltipoo, called Penny. Does that get confusing at times, when you’re calling one of them?
[Laughs] No, because she’s the only one named Penny. But I do like to tease people when we’re walking down the rue that she’s his.
*Are toi close to your dog?
She’s my constant companion. I’ve had big chiens my whole life, but it’s just nice to have another heartbeat to take care of.
*That’s a sweet way of putting it. Do toi confide in your dog?
No, I don’t talk to my dog. I’ll have a dog whisperer talk to my dog for me! toi know chiens are really remarkable and they know when toi need them.They’ll come to toi when they think you’re sad, in need of love. I thought it was so incredible when Mickey Rourke thanked his chiens at the Golden Globes. Everybody started laughing and he said, ‘No, I’m serious.’ He a dit that when he was at the lowest point in his life, they were there when no-one else was. All the people who are patting him on the back now that he’s risen again weren’t there, but his chiens were, so he thanked them. I just thought it was wonderful.
*That’s really wonderful on one level but worrying on another.
I don’t think it’s worrying. His chiens clearly weren’t listening but the people think their loved ones that have passed away do [listen]. Who knows what chiens understand. Who knows what people who have passed away understand. chiens obviously have a strong intuition and they’re able to feel emotions, l’amour and sadness. I don’t think that can be denied.
*That’s sweet. I want a dog now.
toi don’t have a dog? toi need to get a dog, then toi won’t think it’s weird any more. toi just don’t understand.
*OK, some quick questions. Did toi have any imaginary Friends when toi were growing up?
No. Unfortunately, no.
*What are the biggest problems facing American youth?
I think the biggest problem is that the educational system is really, really lacking.
*What wsa your campaign slogan?
It was Got Blake. Like the Got lait campaign.
*Did toi have a great manifesto for change?
I was gonna change my entire school but they pretty much tell toi at the end that all toi get to do is plan where the prom’s going to be held.
*Let’s go a little shallow. Who was your favourite Spice Girl?
Oh, Baby Spice, of course. That’s not shallow! That’s the best question you’ve asked me.
*Why Baby Spice?
I even had her shoes. Her six-inch platform tennis shoes.
*Have toi still got them?
Yeah, but they’re a size five and a half and I’m a ten so...
*When was the last time toi cried?
When Obama won, I got teary-eyed. And last night at a Keith Jarrett concert - he’s a jazz legend - and he played Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The Wizard of Oz is such a wonderful movie, so perfect, and I haven’t watched it in ages and just hearing the song... Everybody in the audience, grown men, people all around were in tears. Everyone was really embarrassed crying, like toi do at the movies, jouer la comédie like you’re scratching your eyeball.
*When and where are toi happiest?
Oh my gosh. So many times and places. I l’amour being at accueil and cooking and baking. That makes me really, really happy. I l’amour just exploring the streets of New York and I l’amour being in Europe, Paris, and Disneyland, too.
*Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson ou Gordon Ramsay?
Martha Stewart. Actually, I’m happiest in Williams-Sonoma in New York. That’s a wonderful cooking store.
