Actors often have to think about the repercussions of the roles they pick during their career. It happens all the time in the industry when new actors choose poorly-aged characters just to get a break in the competitive field.
Actress Blake Lively has been in the entertainment industry for over a decade now, and has different opinions about her show which started it all. The Gossip Girl actor became wildly famous due to her role as Serena van der Woodsen in the 2007 hit show. But looking back the actress isn’t quite happy with her iconic character.
The problem with Serena van der Woodsen
The American teen drama tv show, Gossip Girl ran from 2007 to 2012 featuring the lives of privileged upper-class teens living in Manhattan. The show practically thrust Blake Lively into the spotlight, who played Serena van der Woodsen aka ‘the it girl’.
Fans of the show have a hate-and-love relationship with the posh character due to her somewhat shady actions. But perhaps no one dislikes the character as much as the actress herself. In an interview with Allure in 2015, Lively spilled the beans on what she thought of her role as Serena.
I would not be proud to be the person who gave someone the cocaine that made them overdose and then shot someone and slept with someone else’s boyfriend.
The Shallows lead stated how she didn’t agree with most of her character’s choices in the show. She felt disconnected with the party-girl persona because in real life she was rather shy and private. Lively looked back to the show, and though thankful for the opportunity it gave her, reiterates that that’s not the kind of message she wanted to send.
People loved it, but it always felt a little personally compromising — you want to be putting a better message out there,
Years after the show has ended people have looked back to identify problematic elements and some of these are associated with Lively’s character. The actress has also stated her conflicted feelings on several occasions.
Blake Lively: days on Gossip Girl
In addition to the morally ambiguous character of Serena, Lively also had other concerns in regards to the show. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress discussed at length about what life was like during the filming of the show.
They wanted us all to date. They wanted us all to wear the same clothes that we’re wearing on the show,
To make the actors resemble their onscreen persona, the team behind the show tried really hard to blur their differences. From wearing the same outfits to dating the same people, Lively began to feel as if she was erasing her personal identity.
Because of that, what people were projecting onto me was that I was Serena … We look the same, and we acted the same as far as they could tell, because I wasn’t doing anything but that show
People began to associate the actress with the character off-screen, this really muddled the actress. Since she was new to the industry at that time, she couldn’t really digest this level of fame, paparazzi and exposure.
I’m actually a very shy person and the idea of losing my anonymity was one that was scary to me,
The Green Lantern actress divulged how scary all that fandom was for her at the beginning specially since the show went on to become such a hit. Though she credits Gossip Girl for all the love she got from the fans, the actress wishes she could have done better as a role model for the youth.
Catch all episodes of the hit show Gossip Girl on Amazon Prime Video.
