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Attention Seekers
We caught up with Gossip Girl’s Jessica Szohr and Ed Westwick in London where we discussed the perks and pressures of starring in a ratings winner.
Best described as Sex and the City for teenagers, Gossip Girl has struck a chord with millions of young (and not so young) viewers worldwide. Based upon the series of books written by Cecily von Ziegesar, the series' title comes from the Gossip Girl blog that charts the ups and downs of Manhattan's gifted, beautiful and disgustingly-youthful millionaires. For a teen soap opera, the series sports adult storylines, and is known to confront topics such as drugs and incest that other shows of its ilk understandably try their best to steer clear of.
Jessica Szohr and Ed Westwick play the roles of two of Gossip Girl's most high-profile characters, with British-born Ed in particular grabbing the headlines for his portrayal as the show's bad boy. So, what is the secret of their success? "It's a show that is popular with the younger audience but also because of the issues it confronts, it is appealing to an older generation as well," Ed explains, "It's a universal show with universal issues."
Jessica, who plays Vanessa Abrams, agrees that the more mature storylines the show covers helps broaden its audience appeal. "There are things for guys, girls, kids, parents, everyone, on it," she says, "At the end of the day it's an entertainment show and the writers put things in for shock value. It gives anyone at any age the chance to watch a show for an hour and not worry about the drama in their own life."
Being young actors - Ed is 23 and Jessica is 25 - they both openly admit that the incredible popularity of the show has changed them as people. With the rest of the cast a similar age, the series' location, New York, has become something of an adventure playground for them all. "Everyone hangs out together and we all get on socially. New York is such a spectacular place," Ed explains, "You know there are some benefits that come with being on a hit TV show. You can get a reservation in certain restaurants and things like that. It's great. People treat you differently. There's always something going on, great parties and things that you get invited to. It's wonderful. So yeah, I'm young, I'm in New York and I'm doing a show... Why not take advantage of what's going on?"
Why not indeed? Sometimes, however, the attention can attract the wrong sort of interest from fans. "I mean, just the other day there was a car full of girls outside the house while I was asleep in bed in the morning. That sounds fine, but they were outside my mum and dad's house and that's kind of weird isn't it?" he says with a shudder. "We also get some strange letters; it makes you realise that there are some really crazy people out there."
Ironically the two actors have experienced the venom of the gossip columns themselves recently, having formed a romantic relationship since their time together on the show - a romance that unfortunately ended earlier in the year. Since that time, they have both been subjected to an incredible amount of press attention speculating whether or not they are back together again.
Understandably, Ed declined to comment on whether the rumours about their rekindled romance were true, but Jessica was a little more forthcoming about all the media attention. "You know, people are always going to say stuff or believe some of the stuff they hear and other things that they don't. You just have to let it in one ear and out the other," she tells us. "We know what's true and where we're at, and to me personally that's all that really matters. Someone who's writing something that knows nothing about the story; I just can't be bothered by it, you know what I mean? Is it still hurtful? Absolutely. Does it affect you? No one wants to hear stuff that isn't true or that's bad, but it kind of comes with the territory. As much as you try to keep your relationships private it's not going to be the last thing written about me that I'm not going to like and it's not going to be the first."
With the fan sites and tabloid press eager to find out about their relationship, it can be argued that there is no such thing as bad publicity and it certainly has kept interest in Gossip Girl high on the agenda. "It's like the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt thing - I think people wanted to go see the movie to see their chemistry more than what Mr and Mrs Smith was really about," she says. "For us, I guess it got people talking about what was going on with the show, so I think the studio was quite happy for that to happen."
This is all well and good, but she actually never answered our question on whether they were together or not, and with Ed keeping his cards close to his chest, who knows? Maybe the answer really is to be found within the gossip columns themselves...
Gossip Girl: The Complete Third Season is available on Blu-ray and DVD September 1.
Picture caption: Jessica Szohr and Ed Westwick in January 2010, courtesy of Getty Images. Taken by Frazer Harrison.