54 Things You Probably Didn't Know About "Gossip Girl"

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1. Long before they played star-crossed lovers Dan and Serena, Penn Badgley and Blake Lively were home schooled together as children.

2. Lively and Penn also dated in real life from 2007-2010.

3. Penn Badgley was named after the tennis ball company Penn.

4. At age 12, before he got into acting, Badgley recorded a pop single (that was never released).

5. Taylor Momsen’s first role at age 7 was as Cindy Lou Who in How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

6. One year later, at 8 years old, Momsen wrote a song called Blackout that was recorded and released by Heidi Montag many years later.

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7. Leighton Meester dyed her naturally blonde hair brunette before she even auditioned for the part of Blair.

8. The project was originally supposed to be a movie and Lindsay Lohan wasslated to play Blair.

9. Serena’s full name is Serena Celia van der Woodsen. The author of the book series is named Cecily von Ziegesar.

10. There’s a Manga version of the Gossip Girl book series.

11. Ed Westwick, who plays Chuck, originally auditioned for the role of Nate.

12. Producers didn’t want Ed Westwick for either role at first because they saidhe “looked more like a serial killer than a romantic lead.”

13. Ed Westwick’s actual favorite movie is American Psycho.

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14. You can’t actually sit on the steps of the Met.

15. Penn Badgley was about to quit acting when he got the role of Dan. He turned it down twice before he was convinced to take it.

16. Westwick, who is British, modeled Chuck Bass’ American accent on the character Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

17. Blair is a Scorpio. Serena is a Leo.

18. In Season 2, Serena is shown to have a Myspace profile, where she posts photos of her trip to Buenos Aires. ( Her user name is ServdW.)

19. The exterior shots of the Humphrey loft are shot in DUMBO, but the pilot episodes mentions that they live in Williamsburg.

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20. The Humphrey’s address, which is given as 455 Water Street, is actually theaddress of a park in lower Manhattan.

21. At the beginning of the show, Serena and Chuck both live at 455 Madison Ave. (aka The Palace Hotel).

22. After they left the palace, the van der Woodsen’s moved to the Milan Condominium building at 300 E. 55th Street, which is a real building.

23. A Three-bedroom penthouse at the Milan Condominiums is listed for $6.8 million.

24. After the New York Magazine Reality Index (a recap that rated the accuracy of NYC locations and character behavior) pointed out the DUMBO/Williamsburg confusion, the producers responded that after the pilot, the Humphrey’s simply say they live in Brooklyn.

25. Though the Humphrey children are considered less popular and wealthy since they are from “Brooklyn,” the average price for real estate per square foot on the Upper East Side and DUMBO are both around $1,400.