Why Hollywood Won't Cast Taylor Momsen Anymore

From starring along inside Jim Carrey in the live-action version of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas to holding her own next to Blake Lively in the CW hit, Gossip Girl, Taylor Momsen was on her way to becoming a Hollywood A-lister. However, like a lot of child stars, it seems Momsen imploded before she had the chance to shine. Let's take a look at the reasons why these days, Momsen can only be found on-stage instead of on-screen.

Cindy Lou Who? It may be hard to believe this, but the rebellious, eyeliner-clad rock star you know today as Taylor Momsen played the mini-heroine, Cindy Lou of Whoville, in How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000. It was Momsen's breakout role and definitely one of the more notable roles of her short Hollywood career. As little blonde-haired, blue-eyed Cindy Lou, she was the epitome of innocence and all that is good and right with the world during Christmastime. The role branded the then 7-year-old Momsen as America's sweetheart and a good girl who could do no wrong.

From that point on, Momsen was primarily cast in roles that presented her in the "good girl" light. She went on to play the daughter of the President of the United States in Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and even ended up being one of the top choices for the role of Hannah Montana.

In 2007, Momsen was cast as sweet, girl-next-door, Jenny Humphrey, on Gossip Girl. However, as the seasons went on, Momsen's character started acting, well, out of character — about the same time as Momsen herself began a transformation of sorts. Jenny Humphrey, affectionately known as Little J, ditched her homemade dresses and ribbons for platinum blonde hair and heavy eyeliner. It was around that time showrunners decided it was time for Little J to have a reduced role on the hit show. It seems audiences weren't thrilled with Momsen attempting to break out of the mold Hollywood had cast her in.

Even when offered a pretty sweet gig as a beloved character in a classic Christmas movie alongside Hollywood royalty, Momsen still wasn't content with just focusing on her acting. She got to show off her singing chops in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, singing "Where Are You, Christmas." You definitely wouldn't catch Momsen and her rock band, The Pretty Reckless, releasing a single like that today.

However, Momsen clearly still looks back on her musical debut fondly as she tweeted out the video of her singing "Where Are You, Christmas" from the film in December 2015, writing, "It's that time of the year again... happy holidays everyone, 2016 will be filled with new music."

Who knows, maybe Momsen was planning her departure for the world of music long before Hollywood suspected it.

Despite being cast in notable movies and television shows like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Spy Kids and Gossip Girl, those roles are pretty much the extent of Momsen's acting career. Between an unaired WB series and a few smaller movie roles, there isn't much to be said for the former actresses' resume. Maybe landing the role of Hannah Montana would have launched Momsen's career in a different direction, or maybe she would have simply swapped places with Miley Cyrus on the list of questionable Disney role models .

It's possible that Hollywood isn't knocking down Momsen's door because they never saw huge potential to begin with. At this point, not even Gossip Girl herself could give Momsen the street cred she needs to make it in Tinseltown.

Most 17-year-olds are worried about finding a part-time job, but at 17, Momsen had already been working a full-time job for 15 years. According to Star Pulse, she blames her parents for pushing her into the industry, "Everyone's like, 'Wow, why is she upset, and why is she so miserable about things?' ... My parents signed me up with Ford Modeling Agency at the age of 2. No 2-year-old wants to be working, but I had no choice." It's easy to see why by the age of 17, when many actors haven't even experienced their big break, Momsen was completely over the Hollywood scene.

According to reports from Deadline, Momsen was gradually given less and less air time on Gossip Girl because of her behavior on set. Some of her antics included coming to set unprepared and under-dressed. When Project Runway mentor, Tim Gunn guest-starred on an episode in 2010, he was as vocal about his dislike of Momsen as he is about his dislike of contestants' designs. Clearly Gunn was unable to "make it work" with the starlet who he described as being a "diva" and a "brat". Yikes!

Although Jenny Humphrey was originally a series regular, by the end of season three her appearances on the show were as quick as a New York minute before they stopped altogether in season four and five. Momsen briefly appeared in the season 6 series finale. While Little J fans might have been disappointed to see Momsen's character go, it really didn't come as a huge surprise.

Momsen often stated she didn't have any friends on the Gossip Girl set. While there allegedly wasn't any animosity between the co-stars, they didn't really interact outside of the show's Upper East Side world. There was about a six-year age difference between Momsen and the other members of the regular cast, which might have contributed to her isolation on set. However, she didn't go out of her way to be the easiest person to get along with, which might be why she found herself so alone. In Hollywood, it's all about who you know and if you don't make an attempt to know people or make yourself known you're not going to get far.

There were often rumors the entire cast was feuding on and off so maybe the show was just a prime example of art imitating life.

They say you can't believe everything you see on television, but it's pretty hard to believe Momsen is so completely different from her Gossip Girl character. From Tim Gunn's reports to Momsen's complete personality and look overhaul, either she really got into character or Momsen turned Little J into a mini-version of herself. Momsen says the rumors about her less-than-stellar behavior on set is "crap". However, it's a pretty big coincidence that Jenny's downward spiral just happens to perfectly mirror that of Momsen herself. Regardless of it's true or not, Momsen's reputation precedes her and no one in Hollywood wants to touch her with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2011, Momsen was asked if she had any acting projects in the works to which she replied that she had quit acting altogether. A very subdued announcement for a very vocal young woman, no? At the time, Momsen was on tour with her band and it seems that The Pretty Reckless frontwoman hasn't looked back since. I wonder if life on the Gossip Girl set was really that unbearable or if she was still just really upset about not getting to have the best of both worlds. Either way, it's kind of hard to cast someone who doesn't want to be cast in the first place.

Now that her time isn't consumed with playing a wannabe Upper East Side socialite, Momsen has had plenty of time to focus on her music career (and her eyeliner). It turns out her indefinite hiatus was definitely a good decision on her part. According to Billboard, Momsen is the first woman to land three consecutive number one hits on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. It's a feat not even achieved by legends like Joan Jett and Stevie Knicks. Her band is also making history for having four consecutive number ones on the rock charts. It seems like Little J is doing pretty well for herself after all.

To be fair, it's not like Momsen is sitting around twiddling her thumbs now that she's no longer an actress. She seems perfectly content with climbing the charts as opposed to climbing the ranks in Hollywood. However, if she ever did want to return to La La Land she would definitely need to reign in her controversial public image. We're not saying she has to return to her days as Cindy Lou Who, but maybe just avoid flashing audiences at concerts. While we don't see Momsen opting to return to the silver screen anytime soon, we can only hope that she wouldn't mind dusting off her acting chops if there was ever a Gossip Girl reunion.