Leighton Meester covers Marie Claire in a spread released shortly after Gossip Girl goes on its mid-season break.
The interview is mainly a chance for Meester to dispel some lazy rumour-mongering about her life, since she comes from a broken, unstable background with trainwreck parents who seemed more enamoured with crime, drugs and jail life than their daughter. The mother, in particular, her tried to sue for money she claims she’s owed for existing. She later dropped the suit, but still. Ugh.
Where she was really born: Meester’s mother, Constance, gave birth to her while serving federal prison time for drug trafficking. Meester was not, she has oft clarified, born in jail. She was delivered in a hospital, then transferred to a halfway house for three months, after which she was sent to live with her grandmother until Constance’s release. Her father, Doug, also served time for drug-related offenses. He and Constance would later divorce.
On her family: “My family has a crazy history,” she acknowledges. “Probably the craziest I’ve heard of.” But it was not, she is quick to point out, Dickensian in its misery. “I look back now and I see it in a nice light,” Meester says of her youth in Marco Island, Florida. “It wasn’t uncomplicated. But I played outside. I went to the beach. There were happy, fun times.”
On not wallowing in self-pity: “You can take what is handed to you and use it as an excuse to mess up. But I’ve always handled what was given to me by life. I consider myself lucky. I was never lied to. And I was loved.”
On taking adult acting classes as a child: “I couldn’t relate to kid stuff. ‘Jimmy doesn’t like me!’ Who cares? I was worried we didn’t have gas money or food. Those were my concerns.”
On suffering giving you perspective: “When you see how you react when you suffer,” she explains, “that’s when you know what you are made of.”
On boyfriends: “I never had a boyfriend until I was 18. It’s nice, I guess — when you like them. But it isn’t the most important thing.”
On marriage: “I’m not sure I ever want to get married,” the 25-year-old adds. “The only time a relationship is good is when you really love them. I don’t want to hang out with some guy I just like.” - via Marie Claire Magazine.
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