Taylor Momsen claims furious executives branded her 'ungrateful' over Gossip Girl exit
Former Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen has claimed angry studio bosses branded her "ungrateful" as they refused to let her out of her contract for the show.
Taylor Momsen has claimed studio bosses called her "ungrateful" for trying to quit Gossip Girl.
The 32-year-old actress - who rose to fame on the big screen in How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Spy Kids 2 - landed the role of Jenny Humphrey from 2007 to 2010, before leaving during season four to chase her rock star dreams in The Pretty Reckless.
She told the Call Her Daddy podcast: "It started with a, 'I don't wanna do this anymore,' but you are in a lock and key contract with CW Warner Brothers, you know, all of that stuff.
"It was a very long battle of me arguing with everyone and going, 'Get me outta this. I can't do this anymore.
"'This is killing me. I have something else I want to do with my life and it has nothing to do with this and I can't be stuck here anymore.' "
However, Taylor claimed executives at Warner Bros. Television had an intense reaction to her request.
She said: "You're called ungrateful and you're called all the things that come along with, 'How dare you turn your back on something that's been so successful for you.' "
She had a defiant response, admitting she was "very defensive" at the time.
She recalled: "I just went, ‘F*** you. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re not in my shoes, so how dare you judge this?'
“I was very defensive, but it came down to they wouldn’t let me outta the contract. The head of Warner Bros. said, ‘F*** Taylor Momsen. No f****** way.' "
In the end, Taylor got some help from series creators Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, who wrote her out of the show - although she was still stuck in her contract.
She said: "They essentially went, ‘Well, we can’t let you out of the contract because that’s not our job, but we can write you out of the show. We understand what you’re trying to do here'.
“I really have to credit them for doing that for me because they did not have to, and they wrote me out of the show so I could go on tour and be in a band.”
Taylor recalled how her exit was handled as she just "wasn't on the script the next week", but her castmates all knew she was "making music" at the time.
Despite the drama around her departure, she would return as Jenny two years later in 2012 for the series finale, to give fans some closure.
She added: “As a fan of television and a fan of the shows, I love when you have the full cast together again.
“You want to full-circle that and round it out.”
