Sep 7, 2025 10:51 PM EDT
Taylor Momsen has appeared to close the door on her acting career.
When the 32-year-old — who is known for her roles as Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl and Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas — was asked by Parade at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards if she would ever be up for a reboot or a sequel, she responded, “Interesting… I kind of think I’ve left acting behind.”
She continued, “I think it was a childhood thing for me, but it was an experience that I cherish and is part of who I am. The Grinch I think, in particular, holds an incredibly special place in my heart and always will, so that’s something that comes around every year. And I finally realized that I am Cindy Lou Who, if that makes sense, so that’s something that has been incredibly special and always will be.”
Momsen, who exited Gossip Girl as a series regular halfway through the fourth season to pursue a career in music, has since been fronting her band The Pretty Reckless, which she formed in 2009.
As for her new music, she told Parade at the VMAs, “We do have a new song out, which feels even more amazing. It’s called ‘For I Am Death.’ It just came out, and the music video is something that I really worked hard on, so if you haven’t seen it, please check it out.”
Momsen has previously addressed her reasons for wanting to leave the acting world behind.
“[Acting] was a childhood thing that I got put into at 2 years old. I wasn’t making my own choices then,” she told former Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley as a guest on his “Podcrushed” podcast.
Related: Here Are the 2025 MTV Video Music Award Winners
“Literally, as soon as I got to an age where I could make my own decisions, it was like a click … I woke up one morning and went, ‘Wait a second. I don’t have to do this? I don’t have to do this other job? I can just play in my band and tour and write songs? I can just do that?’”
The Pretty Reckless features Momsen on lead vocals and rhythm guitar alongside Ben Phillips (lead guitar, backing vocals), Mark Damon (bass) and Jamie Perkins (drums).
About the Author
Garid Garcia
About the Author
Michael Gioia
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source parade.com ’
