Taylor Momsen is pulling back the curtain on her abrupt Gossip Girl departure, sharing that her exit from the CW phenomenon was less of a dramatic send-off and more of a swift, silent goodbye. The actress and musician, who played Jenny Humphrey across four seasons, detailed how her decision to pursue music with The Pretty Reckless collided with a tough studio contract and a reputation she says unfairly labeled her as ungrateful.
Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Momsen described leaving mid–Season 4 not with a carefully choreographed farewell, but with what she calls an "Irish dip" — slipping out without fanfare as her character faded from scripts and storylines.
"I Irish-Dipped": Momsen Says Her Exit Happened Quietly
Momsen recalls the moment she realized she was truly out of Gossip Girl was when she simply stopped appearing on the page. "I kind of just Irish-dipped," she said. "I just wasn’t on the script the next week."
The move wasn’t impulsive so much as inevitable. Momsen had been making music for years, even while juggling long shooting days on the teen drama that ran from 2007 to 2012. "They all knew I was making music. They all knew I had a band," she explained of her castmates and colleagues. "I would play them stuff because I was working on the first record while I was on the show. I would come in and play songs … but I don’t think anyone knew how serious I was at that stage."
That seriousness ultimately led her to choose touring and recording over TV. Momsen, who began acting at age three and broke out as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, says stepping away from a hit series wasn’t a difficult personal decision. The friction came later.
The Contract Battle: "They Wouldn’t Let Me Out"
What followed, according to Momsen, was a grueling process to secure her release from her Warner Bros. Television contract. "It was an easy decision for me," she said of prioritizing music. "To actually get [out of] a contract was not easy."
Momsen says her determination to pivot put her at odds with the studio and sparked judgments about her commitment. "I was labeled 'ungrateful,'" she recalled, describing pushback she received when she advocated for her exit. "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?'"
She alleges resistance from the highest levels. "They wouldn’t let me outta the contract. The head of Warner Bros. said, 'F*** Taylor Momsen. No f***ing way,'" Momsen remembered. Her language is blunt, but her point is clear: leaving wasn’t as simple as deciding to walk away.
That stalemate shifted thanks to the show’s creative leadership. Momsen credits Gossip Girl creators Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz with ultimately making her transition possible. "I really have to credit them for doing that for me ’cause they did not have to," she said. "They wrote me out of the show so I could go on tour and be in a band."
Credit To Gossip Girl’s Creators — And Closing The Loop
As The Pretty Reckless gathered momentum, the series crafted an exit that let Jenny Humphrey slip off-screen while the Upper East Side intrigue continued. Momsen describes that decision as a lifeline for her music career and a show of support she still appreciates. The result was a rare case of a young star cleanly pivoting from a breakout TV role to a full-time music path.
Despite the rocky contract chapter, Momsen says she holds no ill will toward the series that made her a household name. She even returned for the 2012 series finale, giving longtime viewers a moment of full-circle closure. "As a fan of television and a fan of the shows, I love when you have the full cast together again," she said. "You want to full-circle that and round it out."
That reunion also underscored how deeply Jenny Humphrey resonated with audiences — a blessing and a challenge for an actor eager to be seen in a new light. "The first year, you get it. The second year, you kind of laugh at it," Momsen said of being recognized as Jenny long after her exit. "As it kept going, I was going, 'Oh, I’m never gonna outlive this character.' … You just kind of … live your life."
From Child Star To Frontwoman
Momsen’s path from child star to rock frontwoman has always been a balancing act between expectation and ambition. Gossip Girl turbocharged her fame, but her long-stated goal was to make records and tour. The Pretty Reckless became that vehicle, and her candid account of leaving the series underscores how tough — and necessary — that pivot was for her to fully commit to music.
Her reflections also capture the complexity of growing up on a cultural juggernaut. Gossip Girl was a defining show for a generation, and Jenny Humphrey was a crucial part of its early DNA. But for Momsen, the character’s popularity doubled as a shadow she had to step out of to become the artist she wanted to be.
In the end, Momsen frames her exit as the product of conviction and a little help from the people who understood her best. Walking away might have looked like an "Irish dip" from the outside, but behind the scenes, it took a fight, a compromise, and a creative team willing to write a different kind of happy ending.
