Taylor Momsen Spoke Candidly About How Grief Changed Her

Taylor Momsen first stole our hearts as little Cindy Lou Who in How The Grinch Stole Christmas, then as the no-nonsense Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl. While it’s been years since Momsen has been on the screen, you’ll most likely have heard or seen her performing as part of one of the world’s biggest rock bands. So, where exactly is Taylor Momsen now?

Having just finished a major UK tour with her band The Pretty Reckless, Momsen is in full creative mode… just not for acting. “Personally, I don’t consider myself an actress. I wouldn’t call it a passion,” she recently told Elle in December, having dedicated the last decade fronting the alternative rock band, whose last release, Death by Rock and Roll, dropped in February 2021. “I had to get to a certain age and growing pains came with that because it’s all me,” Momsen added. “There’s no script. There’s no director. There’s no outside forces. It’s all me.”

That journey hasn’t come without its hardships though. In 2017 and 2018, Momsen lost two of the most important people in her life — Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and her producer and best friend Kato Khandwala. It was a dark time for Momsen, who fell into a deep depression and substance abuse. “I couldn’t get off the couch. I didn’t want to do anything,” she told The Telegraph in 2021. She eventually reached the point where she “had to make a conscious decision to either continue sinking down this never-ending hole or attempt to fix myself. I turned to music, trying to rebuild yourself like you do after any sort of trauma,” the musician said. “Music was my therapy.” While Momsen is “still in the process of healing,” as the singer told Spin magazine, making Death By Rock and Roll was a “huge step forward” in coming out the other side.

While taking the record on tour, the pilot of Gossip Girl just so happened to turn 15 years old — something that made Momsen feel quite old. “I don’t think I realised what a cultural impact that show had while I was doing it,” she recently told Metro. “It was a great experience and an honour to be a part of.”

Momsen is well aware of the Gossip Girl reboot on HBO Max, but don’t expect to see Jenny return anytime soon. “I think my chapter with Jenny is [done], but the show itself, the fact that they’re rebooting it and doing it again for today’s era is cool,” she acknowledged. “But, as far as my character and acting, I put that to bed a good 10 years ago at this point, and it is rock and roll all the time.”