Leighton Meester, best known for her indelible portrayal of rich-girl snobbery and capriciousness as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, is getting her bowl on at Frames, a low-key alley abutting the Port Authority, Manhattan’s main bus terminal and one of the last vestiges of Times Square’s gritty past. She enjoys bowling — this is her second outing in a week. Which is not to say Meester is skilled at bowling. Because she is not.

“I never played sports,” she explains, before releasing her ball with an indifferent thump. “I wasn’t any good at them.” She watches the ball drop into the gutter with limp finality. Unfazed, she throws again, hurling it down the lane, knocking over a handful of pins. A second gutter shot follows. “I guess I need a bigger target,” she says flatly.

On growing up:
“My family has a crazy history. Probably the craziest I’ve heard of. I look back now and I see it in a nice light. It wasn’t uncomplicated. But I played outside. I went to the beach. There were happy, fun times.”

On having little use for self-pity:
“You can take what is handed to you and use it as an excuse to mess up. But I’ve always handled what was given to me by life. I consider myself lucky. I was never lied to. And I was loved.”

On not having or wanting a true childhood:
“I worked a lot, even though I was just a kid. It seemed normal to me. I couldn’t relate to kid stuff. ‘Jimmy doesn’t like me!’ Who cares? I was worried we didn’t have gas money or food. Those were my concerns.”

On getting stronger through suffering:
“When you see how you react when you suffer, that’s when you know what you are made of.”

On her indifference towards relationships:
“I never had a boyfriend until I was 18. It’s nice, I guess – when you like them. But it isn’t the most important thing. I’m not sure I ever want to get married. The only time a relationship is good is when you really love them. I don’t want to hang out with some guy I just like.”

Meester is no stranger to such things.

One of those rare children born with both full-blown ambition and the determination to avoid even the slightest derailment, Meester has been aiming at big game since grade school. Part of this is a rejoinder to circumstance. Meester’s mother, Constance, gave birth to her while serving federal prison time for drug trafficking.

Meester was not, she has oft clarified, born in jail. She was delivered in a hospital, then transferred to a halfway house for three months, after which she was sent to live with her grandmother until Constance’s release. Her father, Doug, also served time for drug-related offenses.

He and Constance would later divorce. The difficult facts of her childhood provided Meester with matchless perspective. Also, an ineffaceable blueprint of what not to do.

Source: Marie Clarie

It’s Dair. Official.

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The CW and Warner Bros. have provided TV Fanatic an exclusive clip from Monday’s all-new Gossip Girl, and it’s a fun one. Blair shows up at Dan’s theater production of Inside, where and meets a familiar face.

Familiar to us, at least.

The Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy-based New York City improvisational theater group, is performing excerpts from Dan’s book, which he’s apparently overseeing. One of the actresses? None other than Lola.

That’s the setting where B arrives, ostensibly to say hello to her “friend”, but clearly with other motives. Fawning over him awkwardly, she’s either smitten with Lonely Boy, looking to rub it in S’ face, or both.

Moments later, she unknowingly meets the real Charlotte Rhodes, Julliard student and aspiring actress, and promptly bashes her hideous headband and wardrobe, only to learn that Lola is playing Claire in Inside.

Ouch, B. Watch the sneak peek from “Cross Rhodes” and comment below!

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