Chace Crawford Recalls "Instant" Connection With Leighton Meester During Gossip Girl Audition

Hey Upper East Siders, E! News here. On Feb. 16, Chace Crawford revealed that he and Leighton Meester had an "instant" connection while auditioning for The CW's Gossip Girl.

By Jillian Fabiano Feb 16, 2022 6:56 PMTags
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We wonder what Serena van der Woodsen and Chuck Bass would have to say about this.

On Feb. 16, Chace Crawford revealed on the XOXO with Jessica Szohr podcast—hosted by Jessica Szohr who played Vanessa on the series—that he and Leighton Meester had an "instant" connection while auditioning for the CW's Gossip Girl back in the mid aughts.

Crawford, who starred as Nate Archibald, said that during the final audition in Burbank, he kept thinking, "Who's going to play Blair Waldorf?" 

"They let me into this massive waiting room," Crawford recalled. "And there was this one girl in this chair at the very end, with her back to me...and I kind of went, 'Hi, let me introduce myself,' she turns around, headband on, it's Leighton."

"I assumed like, 'Oh, that's the girl! Like if she can act, I'm sure she can,'" he said.

"I love that," Szohr added.

"We kind of had an instant friendship connection," Crawford continued. "Easy to talk to."

If only we could've been a fly on that wall! 

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Secrets of the Original Gossip Girl

But Meester wasn't Crawford's only off-screen bestie. 

Crawford lived with Ed Westwick, a.k.a. the one and only Chuck Bass, for two years while filming Gossip Girl. And as Szohr puts it, with rooftop parties, dinners and football watch parties, it was "one of the best" parts of her "entire experience."

Nate recalled asking Westwick, who was "barely 18 at the time" and had never lived in the states before, to be his roommate after seeing the price of apartments.

"Me and my mom started going to New York and look at places, and... I knew New York was semi-expensive but like, it was insane. So I look and I was like 'hey buddy,'" Crawford said with a laugh.

The CW

We wonder if Lonely Boy was ever invited to the parties.

Listen to XOXO with Jessica Szohr when new episodes drop every Wednesday.

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