Taylor Momsen was only 7 years old when she starred as Cindy Lou Who opposite Jim Carrey in Ron Howard’s 2000 Christmas blockbuster “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” It was a breakout role that earned Momsen a Saturn Award nomination for best performance by a younger actor, but it also led to bullying in school. Momsen revealed as much during an interview on “Podcrushed,” a podcast series co-hosted by her former “Gossip Girl” co-star Penn Badgley.
“’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 [Cindy Lou Who], just Grinch Girl.”
Momsen said that while she “got used to it” over time, it still “was alienating” to constantly be reduced to “Grinch Girl.” The bullying shifted years later when she landed the role of Jenny Humphrey on “Gossip Girl” when she was 12 years old. By that point, Momsen had finally made a group of friends in her middle school and didn’t really want to leave them, but was “convinced” to take the “Gossip Girl” role.
Most of Momsen’s “Gossip Girl” co-stars were in their early 20s when the show started, so she felt out of place on set. Connor Paolo, who played Eric van der Woodsen, was the only cast member close to Momsen’s age.
“I didn’t fit in with you guys, I didn’t fit in with Connor’s friends — I was younger than them,” Momsen said on the podcast. “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.”
Click here for more highlights from Momsen’s appearance on the “Podcrushed” podcast.
