Taylor Momsen says she was 'made fun of relentlessly' at school for Grinch role: 'I was just Grinch Girl'

As it turns out, Jim Carrey wasn't the only Grinch that Taylor Momsen had to deal with as a kid.

The actress and musician — who was seven years old when she starred as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas — explained that she was heavily teased by her classmates for appearing in the 2000 holiday film during a recent visit on her Gossip Girl costar Penn Badgley's Podcrushed podcast.

"First of all, The Grinch changed my life in a multitude of ways — one of them being I was made fun of relentlessly," Momsen explained. "Every time I would start a new school or go somewhere else, I don't even think the kids knew my name. I was just Grinch Girl."

"Not even the character name [Cindy Lou Who], just Grinch Girl," the Pretty Reckless singer added. "I got used to it, but it was alienating."

When one of his co-hosts suggested that it may have been "jealousy" that fueled all the teasing, Badgley couldn't resist poking fun at his former costar. "No, no," he joked. "It was because those young children are very confident in who they are, and they're just seeing reality."

Momsen, who played Badgley's younger sister on Gossip Girl, took his brotherly burn in stride. "I mean, I was Grinch Girl," she teased, "but I was also Taylor."

It wasn't until middle school, Momsen explained, that she stopped constantly moving schools and began to develop her own friend group.

"That was the first year where I was in school, and I had the opportunity to try and actually make friends," she said. "I put a band together. It was my first band, my middle-school band, a garage band. We never could settle on a name. But we would jam after school, and that was always fun. I was singing, playing guitar, writing."

Momsen previously looked back on her experience playing the adorable Cindy Lou Who in a 2020 Today interview in celebration of the Dr. Seuss film's 20th anniversary.

"I think that people love The Grinch just simply because the core of the story is so sweet and it's so heartwarming and it has such a good message," she said at the time. "That no matter what age touches your heart, I think that that's an amazing thing to be a part of. "

"The fact that it comes back around every year — I think it's something to look forward to," she continued. "And I think it just kinda brings happiness and joy to anyone who watches it."

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