*What has Serena furgone, van der Woodsen been up to today?
I find out I’m throwing a surprise sweet-sixteen for Jenny. Then I find out that someone else is having a party on the same night. These are really serious issues we have to deal with!
*Are te surprised da the impact Gossip Girl has had?
Just the fact that it’s airing anywhere else is unbelievable. It feels like everybody’s playing a big hoax on us.
*And for te personally, it’s been an incredible rise. You’re 21 and you’re on the cover of American Vogue!
Yes, it’s like something homemade my mom did. It looks much better than if my mom made it but that’s what it feels like.
*I read somewhere te almost turned down the show. Apparently te said, ‘If there are pet monkeys in coordinating outfits, that’s not something I’m going to want to be a part of.’ Where the hell did that come from?
It’s in the book. One of the male characters, Chuck, gets a pet monkey and they wear matching outfits.
*Oh, OK, I thought te had this irrational fear of monkeys?
Nooo! It’s just that a lot of the time, the soap-opera-style genre gets a little crazy and I was just saying that if this was going to take that turn, then...
*So in the spazio of two years you’ve become a style icona and been thrust into limelight. You’re in a place where te can decide to be a Mischa Barton o a Natalie Portman.
There are people I look up to that, creatively, I would Amore to match. People like Annette Bening o Catherine Keener.
*How about in your private life?
I was raised in a wonderful, close family. I was never a wild child so, luckily I don’t feel the desire to go out and go crazy.
*You’re young. Why not?
[Laughs] I told you! Because I was raised in a really terrific, close family and I’ve never needed to escape anything o to really let myself go da dancing on tables.
*Is it true your brother Eric whisked te away on a tour of Europa to convince te to become an actress?
I was 15, he was 21. It was an amazing trip; he took me to London, Cambridge - because’s that’s where Harry Potter is shot -, Rome, Brussels, Cologne, Florence and Paris, staying everywhere from five-star hotels to hostels. But every single giorno I would dread going to lunch with him, because every single giorno he’d be like, ‘What are te going to do for a living?’
*How come he took such an interest?
te know, I am very close with all my family members and they all think they’re my parents. They all think they’ve raised me o need to raise me. I don’t know why. Eric detto he wanted me to be più cultured and see the world, and he’d go, ‘Look, te need to have a job that can help te experience everything there is in the world.’
*And te were 15?
That was the other thing. It was the winter holidays. He told my mom that he would be taking me out of school for two weeks and he ended up keeping me out for a mese and a half. That was the plan all along but he knew they wouldn’t let me miss so much school. But he realised the trip was più important than me being in school. I got a much better education about world history in that mese and a half than I did in the entirety of my high school life.
*Did te have any holiday romances?
No, I was 15. I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I was 17.
*Speaking of romance, You’re dating one of your co-stars, Penn Badgley. Is that out in the open now?
Yeah [Laughs]. I think it’s pretty out in the open. I don’t like to talk about it because we put so much of ourselves out there all the time: there are very few things that we get to keep private.
*Is that quite hard on you?
It is. te know, te see these people who fall off the edge and it seems they have dato the media all of themselves. It is hard that people don’t just let te do your job for them and entertain, and then carry on your own life.
*Obviously you’ve chosen to data your co-star but te don’t choose who te fall in Amore with…
Yeah, te don’t.
*You’ve detto you’ve only kissed three boys in your life. How can that be?
How can that be? I don’t know. I didn’t get around too much. Like I said, I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was 17. I grew up in a Southern Baptist family. It was più my grandparents. My mother is a Christian but it was just like she…It wasn’t like they went to church all the time and were really strict but, te know, my mom was very much a good girl and I was raised in a way I didn’t….Not that it would be bad to have a boyfriend. I was really shy at school, too. With boys, I mean, I was really outgoing but there were boys that I would find out later had a crush on me but I was too shy to them. Whatever. I was just being shy.
*They must be killing themselves now.
[Laughs] I think they’re still alive. They’re surviving.
*Just one più Penn question. You’ve got a dog, a Maltipoo, called Penny. Does that get confusing at times, when you’re calling one of them?
[Laughs] No, because she’s the only one named Penny. But I do like to tease people when we’re walking down the strada, via that she’s his.
*Are te close to your dog?
She’s my constant companion. I’ve had big Cani my whole life, but it’s just nice to have another heartbeat to take care of.
*That’s a sweet way of putting it. Do te confide in your dog?
No, I don’t talk to my dog. I’ll have a dog whisperer talk to my dog for me! te know Cani are really remarkable and they know when te need them.They’ll come to te when they think you’re sad, in need of love. I thought it was so incredible when Mickey Rourke thanked his Cani at the Golden Globes. Everybody started laughing and he said, ‘No, I’m serious.’ He detto that when he was at the lowest point in his life, they were there when no-one else was. All the people who are patting him on the back now that he’s risen again weren’t there, but his Cani were, so he thanked them. I just thought it was wonderful.
*That’s really wonderful on one level but worrying on another.
I don’t think it’s worrying. His Cani clearly weren’t listening but the people think their loved ones that have passed away do [listen]. Who knows what Cani understand. Who knows what people who have passed away understand. Cani obviously have a strong intuition and they’re able to feel emotions, Amore and sadness. I don’t think that can be denied.
*That’s sweet. I want a dog now.
te don’t have a dog? te need to get a dog, then te won’t think it’s weird any more. te just don’t understand.
*OK, some quick questions. Did te have any imaginary Friends when te were growing up?
No. Unfortunately, no.
*What are the biggest problems facing American youth?
I think the biggest problem is that the educational system is really, really lacking.
*What wsa your campaign slogan?
It was Got Blake. Like the Got latte campaign.
*Did te have a great manifesto for change?
I was gonna change my entire school but they pretty much tell te at the end that all te get to do is plan where the prom’s going to be held.
*Let’s go a little shallow. Who was your favourite Spice Girl?
Oh, Baby Spice, of course. That’s not shallow! That’s the best domanda you’ve asked me.
*Why Baby Spice?
I even had her shoes. Her six-inch platform tennis shoes.
*Have te still got them?
Yeah, but they’re a size five and a half and I’m a ten so...
*When was the last time te cried?
When Obama won, I got teary-eyed. And last night at a Keith Jarrett concerto - he’s a jazz legend - and he played Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The Wizard of Oz is such a wonderful movie, so perfect, and I haven’t watched it in ages and just hearing the song... Everybody in the audience, grown men, people all around were in tears. Everyone was really embarrassed crying, like te do at the movies, recitazione like you’re scratching your eyeball.
*When and where are te happiest?
Oh my gosh. So many times and places. I Amore being at home and cooking and baking. That makes me really, really happy. I Amore just exploring the streets of New York and I Amore being in Europe, Paris, and Disneyland, too.
*Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson o Gordon Ramsay?
Martha Stewart. Actually, I’m happiest in Williams-Sonoma in New York. That’s a wonderful cooking store.
