Leighton Meester

• 1. Introduction

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  Leighton Meester, the American actress and singer, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on the 9th of April 1986. Her mother gave birth in a hospital while serving a federal prison sentence. Afterward, the baby stayed with her for three months in a halfway house, and then the mother went back to finish her term. Both of Leighton's parents had been convicted over a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica into the United States. Decades later, their daughter would say that knowing this taught her not to judge anyone, least of all a parent, because people change. How does a child who starts life that way end up as a brunette schemer on a hit teen drama? How does she also become a Top Ten pop vocalist, a Broadway performer and the face of luxury perfume? And what happened in the long stretches between the headlines?

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• 2. Two Coasts, Early Start

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  While her parents were away, Meester's paternal grandparents looked after her. She later grew up on Marco Island, Florida, where she took part in productions at a local playhouse. Her parents separated in 1992. When she was 11, she moved to New York City with her mother and her siblings. She enrolled at the Professional Children's School and signed with the modeling agency Wilhelmina. One early booking was a Ralph Lauren campaign photographed by Bruce Weber. Another put her in front of a photographer who was not yet a famous director, Sofia Coppola. Commercials for Tamagotchi and Clearasil followed, and she modeled for Limited Too next to Amanda Seyfried. At 14, she relocated to Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High School and Beverly Hills High School. A small private school then let her graduate a year ahead of schedule.

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• 3. Becoming Blair

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  For the teen drama Gossip Girl, Meester first auditioned for the part of Serena van der Woodsen. She told the producers she would be better as Serena's rival, Blair Waldorf. There was one catch. Serena had to be the blonde and Blair the brunette, so Meester dyed her hair brown. The series, which aired on The CW from 2007 and was adapted from Cecily von Ziegesar's book series, ran for six seasons. Critics singled out her performance as the show's strongest, and Blair became its breakout character. Her wardrobe drew press attention too. She earned Teen Choice Award nominations in 2008 for best drama actress and best breakout female star. Getting there had taken years of smaller work. In 1999 she appeared on Law & Order as Alyssa Turner, a murder victim's friend. Her film debut came in Hangman's Curse in 2003, based on a bestselling book by Frank Peretti. A short-lived series, Tarzan, made her a regular. She then took recurring parts as Justine Chapin on Entourage and Carrie Bishop on Veronica Mars. Guest spots on Crossing Jordan, 8 Simple Rules, 7th Heaven and 24 filled the gaps, and she joined the cast of Surface as Savannah Barnett. In 2006 she played Ali Johnson on House, a teenager with a crush on Gregory House. That year she also led the horror film Drive-Thru. A pilot for ABC, Secrets of a Small Town, cast her as identical twins Kayla and Kelly Rhodes, but the network chose not to take it to series. In 2008 she returned to Entourage, this time singing alongside Tony Bennett.

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• 4. Pop, Folk and a Shelved Album

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  In 2009, Cobra Starship released "Good Girls Go Bad" with Meester as guest vocalist. It climbed to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, earned a two-times Platinum certification from the RIAA and drew an MTV Video Music Award nomination for best pop video. That April she signed with Universal Republic. Her first official solo single, "Somebody to Love", featuring Robin Thicke, went to radio on the 13th of October 2009. A second single, "Your Love's a Drug", followed on the 30th of March 2010. The album behind them never arrived. She had started work in March 2009, with a fall release in mind. The date slid to early 2010, then to late 2010, and the record was shelved. Producers on the project included Polow Da Don, Harvey Mason Jr. and Spencer Nezey. Lil Wayne recorded an unreleased track, "Make It Rain", with her, and Jesse McCartney wrote another song. Country Strong changed her direction. After filming, Tim McGraw gave her a guitar, and she taught herself to play. By October 2010 she was writing with a band called Check in the Dark. She named her influences: "I love Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, that style of music, and as far as songwriting I think that's where my heart is." In 2012 the band toured five cities between the 29th of May and the 4th of June. She told listeners she had loved her pop collaborations, but that folk was a lot closer to her heart. Her debut album, Heartstrings, was announced on the 9th of September 2014. She released it on the 28th of October through her own label, Hotly Wanting. Meester wrote all nine songs, and Jeff Trott produced. Reviewers compared the sound to ethereal songwriters such as Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell. The record reached number 139 on the main US albums chart and number one on the Heatseekers list. Her tour for it ran from the 6th of January 2015 in Los Angeles to the 2nd of March in San Francisco.

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• 5. Reviews and Box Office

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  In Country Strong, Meester acted opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Garrett Hedlund. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe called her the best part of the film. He wrote that her work was "not an impersonation; it's a performance with its own comedy and sweetness." Claudia Puig of USA Today said she could do more than play a privileged Manhattan socialite. The soundtrack gave her covers of "Words I Couldn't Say" and "A Little Bit Stronger", plus a duet with Hedlund called "Give In To Me". Before that, she had small roles in the comedies Date Night and Going the Distance. In The Roommate she played Rebecca Evans, an obsessive, bipolar woman. Most reviews of the thriller were negative, yet her portrayal was praised. Entertainment Weekly said she alone brought a trace of something fascinating to the role. The Los Angeles Times compared her performance to a sports car in neutral that shows its power when it shifts gears. In the teen comedy Monte Carlo she played Meg Kelly, stepsister to Selena Gomez's character. The Oranges, opposite Hugh Laurie and Adam Brody, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that she embodied all that is alluring and alarming about a 24-year-old woman. Then came That's My Boy in June 2012, with Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Milo Ventimiglia. It grossed under $58 million against a $70 million production budget. The following year, it collected nominations for eight Golden Raspberry Awards, two of them for Worst Screen Couple and Worst Screen Ensemble.

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• 6. Stage and Later Screens

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  In 2014, Meester made her Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. She played Curley's wife at the Longacre Theatre, opposite James Franco and Chris O'Dowd. The production was filmed and shown in cinemas for one night through National Theatre Live. It was the first Broadway show the program had ever selected. Broadway.com nominated her for its audience award for favorite featured actress in a play. That year also brought Life Partners, a comedy at the Tribeca Film Festival about a lesbian, played by Meester, and a straight woman, played by Gillian Jacobs. David Dobkin's The Judge, with Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall and Vera Farmiga, premiered at the Toronto festival and opened in October. Her performance in Like Sunday, Like Rain, directed by Frank Whaley, won Best Actress at the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival. In 2016 she joined Fox's Making History as Deborah Revere, a colonial woman from 1775 and the daughter of Paul Revere. It lasted nine episodes. She also joined 100 celebrity narrators in the documentary Unity. Next came the ABC sitcom Single Parents, with Taran Killam, which ran for two seasons from September 2018. In that period she appeared in Semper Fi, alongside Jai Courtney, Nat Wolff and Finn Wittrock. She also played Laura Huggins on The Orville, returning to the role in 2022. That year she took a recurring part as Meredith on How I Met Your Father and voiced a role in the animated film My Father's Dragon. The holiday film EXmas followed in 2023. In October 2024 she was announced for the second season of The Buccaneers. For Good Cop/Bad Cop she received a Logie Award nomination for best actress in a comedy. In September 2025 Netflix announced she would star opposite Jared Padalecki in an adaptation of Katherine Center's novel The Bodyguard.

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• 7. Brands and Benefits

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  Magazines noticed Meester almost as soon as Gossip Girl did. People put her on its "100 Most Beautiful" list in 2008, the year Maxim ranked her number 48 on its "Hot 100". She rose to number 12 on that list in 2009. FHM named her number one on its list of fall television's hottest stars in 2008. The Independent Critics' list of famous faces placed her at number 21 in 2008, then number four in 2010, and number 76 in 2012. Advertisers followed. In early 2009 she modeled Reebok's Top Down sneakers. With co-star Ed Westwick she appeared in a Nikon Coolpix advertisement and fronted the Korean clothing line ASK Enquired. In 2010 she became the spokesperson for Herbal Essences. Vera Wang chose her as the face of the fragrance Lovestruck in 2011, saying her beauty, talent and spirit would inspire young women. A follow-up, Lovestruck Floral Rush, was shot the next year. Missoni used her for its spring and summer 2011 campaign. Biotherm named her its global ambassador in October 2013, and the French brand Naf Naf used her for its autumn and winter 2014 collection. Charity work ran alongside. In 2008 she fronted Sunsilk's "Life Can't Wait" campaign, which urged women to chase their dreams. In 2009 she worked with Safe Horizon to raise awareness about domestic violence. In 2010 she joined Isabella Rossellini and Maribel Verdú in Bulgari's efforts for Save the Children. In 2015 she auctioned fashion and accessories on eBay to benefit Many Hopes, which builds schools and homes for children in Kenya. Since 2017 she has volunteered with Feeding America, including at the Downtown Women's Center in Los Angeles. She also helped with relief work in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. In 2021 she offered a coffee date through Omaze to raise money for people with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome. As of April 2026, she had 7.6 million followers on Instagram.

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• 8. Courtrooms and Home

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  In July 2011, Meester and her mother, Constance, sued each other. The dispute centered on Meester's financial support for her younger brother, Alexander, known as Lex, who has multiple health problems. Meester claimed her mother spent the money on cosmetic procedures such as botox and hair extensions. Constance countered with claims of breach of contract and physical abuse. She said Meester had verbally promised $10,000 a month rather than the $7,500 she received. She also sought more money for the happiness she said she gave up by moving her daughter to Los Angeles to act. The judge dismissed that claim. Constance also accused her daughter of calling social services to report a false abuse claim about Alexander. Investigators interviewed Meester and found no merit in the complaint. Meester said she would pay for her brother's medical bills and school fees, but called the $10,000 figure "ridiculous". In November 2011, Constance dropped her $3 million damages claim. Meester obtained a default judgment on the 7th of December 2011. In June 2012, the judge rejected the claims in her mother's counter-suit, and Meester won. Her romantic life drew less courtroom attention. She dated actor Aaron Himelstein in 2007 after they met on the set of Remember the Daze. She was with Sebastian Stan from 2008 to 2010. She and Himelstein briefly got back together in November 2011 and split again in 2012. She had met her future husband, Adam Brody, while filming The Oranges in March 2010. They became engaged in November 2013 and married in a private ceremony on the 15th of February 2014. Their daughter, Arlo, was born on the 4th of August 2015. A son was born in 2020, as Brody confirmed that September. The family lives in Los Angeles. In January 2025, the Palisades Fire destroyed their home.

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