Cover Shoot: Leighton Meester
1/14LOCATION, LOCATION:
She may play one of decided to capture Leighton in the city's edgier downtown haunts. We snapped her at neighborhood spots like the Keith Haring Pop Art mural and the ax shop Ludlow Guitars. Before she was cast as Blair Waldorf, the Florida-raised actress actually spent part of her childhood in Manhattan. "I love this place," she says.
2/14TOP DOG:
The star brought her terrier, Jack, to the shoot. The pooch, who frequently accompanies her to the set of , has—like Leighton—become a fixture in the celebrity weeklies.
3/14GAWKER STALKER:
The team was overwhelmed by the swarming crowd and their camera phones, but this was nothing new to Leighton. She has grown totally comfortable with shooting on the New York City streets—and with being Blair. "I don't want to stop playing the character," she says. "It would be like part of me going away."
4/14LEIGHTON, ON HER PARENTS' HIGHLY PUBLICIZED PRISON PAST:
"I wouldn't have volunteered that information, but I've never kept it a secret either. It's just not my past; it's not my story to tell."
5/14LEIGHTON, ON CO-STAR ED WESTWICK:
"He's my favorite actor to work with. We have really good chemistry."
6/14LEIGHTON, ON HER CHILDHOOD:
"I wasn't born in jail; I was born in a hospital. I lived with my mother for a few months in a halfway house, and then I went to stay with my grandmother for a few more before my mom got out. But I had a normal life."
7/14LEIGHTON, ON HER DEBUT ALBUM SHE HOPES TO RELEASE THIS SPRING:
"The music is very fun. It's edgy, like electropop rather than bubblegum and you can dance to it."
8/14LEIGHTON, ON HER CHARACTER BLAIR WALDORF'S STYLE SIGNATURE:
"I don't wear headbands, ever."
13/14For more on Leighton and the rest of the cast, visit cwtv.com.
