Taylor Momsen

• 1. Introduction

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  Taylor Momsen was on stage in Seville, Spain, on the 31st of May 2024 when a bat bit her. She was performing with her band, the Pretty Reckless, at the time. The bite meant she had to take vaccinations for rabies.

  Momsen is an American singer, songwriter, musician and model, and a former actress. She was born in 1993 and fronts an American rock band. Before the band existed, she had already spent years working in front of cameras.

  How does someone who started working at the age of three end up leading a rock band? What did those early years cost her? And what turned later loss into an album?

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• 2. Child Actress

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  Taylor Michel Momsen was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 26th of July 1993. Her parents are Michael and Collette Momsen, and her younger sister Sloane is also an actress. The sisters have partial Russian descent. Momsen was raised Catholic and attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School for elementary school. Later came Herbert Hoover Middle School in Potomac, Maryland. After school she studied dance at the Center of Creative Arts, known as COCA, in St. Louis. After moving to New York City, she enrolled at the Professional Performing Arts School.

  Her professional career began at the age of three, in a 1997 national commercial for Shake 'n Bake. A part in The Prophet's Game followed. In 2000 she played Cindy Lou Who opposite Jim Carrey in Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was her breakout role.

  In 2002 she played Gretel in Hansel and Gretel. That same year she played Alexandra, the President's daughter, in Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams. She also appeared in We Were Soldiers, alongside her sister Sloane.

  A lead role in the WB series Misconceptions, where she played Hopper Watson, never reached the air. She then appeared in the 2006 film Saving Shiloh. She auditioned for the title role in Hannah Montana and made the final three, but Miley Cyrus got the part. Momsen says she was happy about that outcome in retrospect. In 2007 she played Molly in the Walt Disney Pictures film Underdog. She also played Jennifer in Paranoid Park, directed by Gus Van Sant.

  Years later, Momsen chose the word "alienating" to describe her child acting career. She spoke of the bullying she received after her performance in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

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• 3. Leaving Gossip Girl

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  In 2007 Momsen began playing Jenny Humphrey on The CW series Gossip Girl, which was based on Cecily von Ziegesar's book series. She was part of the main cast for the first four seasons. Her appearances became increasingly sporadic. By the end of the first half of the fourth season, she had appeared in only four episodes. An indefinite hiatus was announced, and she left as a regular cast member after the fourth season finished in 2011.

  On the 16th of August 2011, Momsen told Elle magazine that she had quit acting to focus on her music career. She has explained the contrast herself. In her words: "Acting is easy. I've been doing it for so long and I totally love it. But you're playing a character instead of yourself. Music is more personal because you're writing it and you're involved in every step of it."

  On the 16th of October 2012, it was reported that she would return for the show's final episode. She appeared briefly in the wedding sequence.

  The Pretty Reckless single "Kill Me" came out on the 11th of December 2012. It was the fourth single from her band, and it was the last song featured in the Gossip Girl finale.

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• 4. Modeling

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  Momsen has said her parents signed her with Ford Models when she was two. She remembers it plainly: "My parents signed me up with Ford Modeling at the age of two. No two-year-old wants to be working, but I had no choice. My whole life, I was in and out of school. I didn't have friends. I was working constantly and I didn't have a real life."

  In June 2008, at the age of 14, she signed to IMG Models. She became the face of the British fashion chain New Look for its spring/summer 2010 collection.

  On the 15th of July 2010, after weeks of speculation, Momsen was announced as the face of Madonna's 2010 fashion line, Material Girl. A week later she was named the model for John Galliano's new women's fragrance, due to launch in autumn 2010. She also appeared in a video for Galliano's "Parlez-Moi d'Amour" fragrance campaign. She is the face of Samantha Thavasa's handbag line as well, and has done many photoshoots, press events and commercials.

  In 2009, at 15, she appeared on the cover of Page Six Magazine. The February 2010 cover of Seventeen followed. In October 2010 she wore platform stilettos, thigh-high stockings and a holster strapped to her leg for Revolver. FHM put her on its March 2012 cover and ranked her number 29 in its 2012 Hot 100 issue.

  Journalist Jason Tanamor once asked her about posing for Playboy. Her answer was: "I was at the mansion last week and took some pictures. Does that count?" Her cover debut for Maxim came in the November 2013 issue.

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• 5. Building the Band

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  In March 2009, Momsen told OK! magazine that her band, the Pretty Reckless, had signed a deal with Interscope Records. The band formed that year. Her first tour came in spring 2009, opening for The Veronicas on their Revenge Is Sweeter Tour.

  Momsen worked with several producers before she met Kato Khandwala. He introduced her to the guitarist Ben Phillips, and the two began writing songs together. She has said that "music is where I can be me."

  The band released a self-titled EP on the 22nd of June 2010. Its debut album, Light Me Up, followed on the 27th of August 2010. It debuted at number 6 and reached number 1 on the Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart. "Make Me Wanna Die" came out on the 30th of May 2010 as the first single. "Miss Nothing" arrived on the 23rd of August 2010, and "Just Tonight" was the third single. Songs from the album turned up in the film Kick-Ass and in the television series The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl.

  Momsen names Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Who, Pink Floyd and AC/DC among her influences. She also lists Marilyn Manson, Oasis, and Shirley Manson of Garbage.

  On the 27th of July 2011, Momsen announced that the band would support Evanescence in the fall of 2011. Throughout 2012 the band toured North America. The second headlining tour, called the Medicine Tour, began in March 2012.

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• 6. Chart Records

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  The album Going to Hell was released on the 12th of March 2014. It gave the band its largest sales week to date. It landed at number five on the Billboard 200, with over 35,000 copies sold in its first week.

  The first two singles from that album, "Heaven Knows" in March 2014 and a second single in September 2014, both reached number one on rock radio. That made the Pretty Reckless the first female-fronted band to reach number one on the rock radio charts with its first two singles.

  The band spent the majority of late 2013 through 2014 on tour supporting the record. In 2014 it also joined the European leg of Fall Out Boy's Save Rock n Roll Tour, alongside New Politics.

  Throughout 2015, Momsen kept recording material for a third album. The single "Take Me Down" arrived on the 29th of September 2016. The album Who You Selling For was released on the 21st of October 2016.

  The fourth album, Death by Rock and Roll, came out on the 12th of February 2021. When its title song hit number one, the Pretty Reckless became the first female-fronted band with five number one singles.

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• 7. Loss and Tribute

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  By October 2016, Momsen had stopped practicing and identifying with Catholicism. She described herself at the time as spiritual but not religious. She has also struggled with depression and substance abuse.

  In 2017 the Pretty Reckless opened for Soundgarden on the band's final tour. The tour was cut short by the suicide of Chris Cornell. Cornell was her idol, and she had toured with him briefly, though she was not close to him. In 2018 her close friend and longtime record producer Kato Khandwala died. She isolated herself and fell into depression. She eventually used music to work through the trauma, and the 2021 album Death by Rock and Roll was inspired by the two deaths.

  The remaining members of Soundgarden later invited Momsen to perform with them on occasion. The first time was Cornell's tribute concert, I Am The Highway, in 2019. The Taylor Hawkins tribute concert came in 2022. In 2025 she performed with them again at Soundgarden's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also recorded a cover of their song "Halfway There" with Soundgarden member Matt Cameron.

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• 8. Guest Spots and Homecoming

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  Heidi Montag recorded a song called "Blackout" that Momsen had written. According to Momsen, she wrote it at the age of 8 and recorded it as a demo with a producer. Montag released it as a digital-only single, with a music video directed by her husband Spencer Pratt. It later appeared on Montag's debut studio album, Superficial, in 2010. Momsen recalled the surprise: "I'm like, okay, dude, you're singing an 8-year-old's words, but that's cool." She added that she never shopped the song around.

  In 2012 Momsen sang as a guest vocalist on Fix This, an album by Paul Barker, formerly of Ministry. In 2020 she was featured on Evanescence's "Use My Voice", from the album The Bitter Truth. Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation and the electronic violinist Lindsey Stirling joined her on it. She and Hale also appeared on In This Moment's cover of Queen's "We Will Rock You", from the 2020 album Mother. She had cameos in music videos too, for Faith Hill in 2000 and Fergie's "L.A. Love (La La)" in 2014.

  In October 2025 she and her band digitally released a Christmas EP, Taylor Momsen's Pretty Reckless Christmas. Its physical release followed in November 2025. It includes an updated version of "Where Are You Christmas", a song first recorded for the 2000 soundtrack of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In November she performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

  At the 2026 MusiCares Person of the Year event honoring Mariah Carey, Momsen performed with the Foo Fighters. They played two songs from Carey's secret rock album, Someone's Ugly Daughter.

  On the 13th of March 2026, the band announced its fifth studio album, Dear God, set for release on the 26th of June 2026. Four singles preceded it: "For I Am Death", "When I Wake Up", "Love Me" and "Dear God".

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