Blake Lively discusses Gossip Girl, family and fame

Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively (Serena) graces the December cover of W magazine with a patriotic look (all red, white and blue) and gives a great interview which was conducted right after her father’s recent car accident.

Blake explains how her brother Eric, 27, forced her into acting at age 15, secretly contacting his agent about her. Her goal at the time was college.

After several auditions, Blake landed the role in the 2005 movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It wasn’t too long after when she was snagged for the role of Serena van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl.

According to the interview, Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage had Blake and Leighton Meester (Blair) watch the catfight between Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft in the 1977 movie The Turning Point to prepare for their own catfight in the "New Haven Can Wait" episode.

Of course, Lively still denies any off-screen tensions with Meester (and I happen to believe her) and says her idea of a good time is not on the club scene.

Lively also is featured on the December cover of ASOS’s magazine.  The interview begins on Page 23 (available at the link above), where Lively discusses how much she’s learned about fashion through her experience with Gossip Girl and what she likes about her character.

Lively says she’s happy that Serena seems to realize that she needs to move past her party girl days and is willing to change. In school, Lively was a cheerleader, in the show club and in tons of clubs — no debutante balls in her past.

Photo courtesy CTV