The Pretty Reckless frontwoman opens up on the harassment she suffered at the hands of her peers at school after starring in holiday movie 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'.
- Sep 8, 2023
AceShowbiz - Taylor Momsen was harassed "relentlessly" at school over her role in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". The 30-year-old star discussed her experiences as a child actress after appearing in the 2000 Christmas classic based on Dr. Seuss' iconic book.
"Making friends was always challenging for me. First of all, 'The Grinch' changed my life in a multitude of ways - one of them being I was made fun of relentlessly...," she told host Penn Badgley when appearing on SiriusXD's "Podcrushed" podcast.
"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'. I got used to it, but it was alienating."
Penn - who later starred with her in "Gossip Girl" - joked that rather than "jealous," the digs from her classmates was "because those young children are very confident in who they are, and they're just seeing reality."
Taylor laughed and reflected on how she was able to "make friends" with people by the time she hit middle school. She said, "That was the first [full] year where I was in school, and I had the opportunity to try and actually make friends."
"I put a band together. It was my first band, my middle-school band, a garage band. We never could settle on a name. But we would jam after school, and that was always fun. I was singing, playing guitar, writing. So as soon as I started to find my little groove in school as a normal kid, 'Gossip Girl' came about and I got uprooted to New York. The band fell apart."
She joked that the band "were gonna be huge," but after having to "restart it all again in New York," she ended up starting The Pretty Reckless.
She added, "And it took a minute to find the right band members ... I really wanted to make my own kind of makeshift family. I wanted to be in a band; I wanted to be part of something and not do it by myself. I wanted to be The Beatles; I didn't want to be Elvis - who wants to do this alone? I wanted to share it with people."
