REVIEW Ed and Thrill of Jessica are dating in real life KELLY RUTHERFORD CE (Lily van der Woodsen) It’s a case of life imitating THELUCKY SHANNON O’M EARACHA KEEPS A DATE Ed and art as 40-year-old WITH GOSSIP GIRL NICE GUY NATE Chace are Kelly, who plays a great mates multi-divorced mum, off-screen battles for custody of her WAKE-UP call at 6am is not real-life son, Hermès. much fun, although if Chace ED WESTWICK Crawford – Gossip Girl’s Nate (Chuck A Bass), CHACE CRAWFORD Archibald – is at the end of the line, (Nate Archibald) and JESSICA could there be a better reason to get SZOHR (Vanessa Abrams) up in the morning? Nate and Vanessa briefly dated on So Grazia happily (and breathlessly) the show, but party-boy Ed is now takes the call from the Texan romancing Jessica in the real world – heart-throb, who has a rare day off despite the gay rumours that plague former flatmates Ed and Chace. from !lming the hit drama series. The 23-year-old is eager to tell us about his crush on Australia and his penchant for Aussie stars. “I want to get to Australia so bad,” Chace says. “Ed [Westwick, aka Chuck Bass] has of the been down there and he had a blast. Real-life drama s Australia is de!nitely next on my list. The accent, the girls!” CAST Despite having hordes of female GOSSIP GI RL fans, the actor remains surprisingly THE ON-SCREEN SOAP OPERA HAS grounded, mostly thanks to some NOTHING ON THEIR OFF-SCREEN PLOTS good ole southern values. “I was raised saying yes ma’am, yes like Johnny Everyman, I was kind sir and all that,” he says. “I’m just of friends with all the groups.” a kid from Texas. My buddies from Thankfully, he hasn’t always been X 3 home rib me all the time; I don’t have Mr Nice Guy, with Chace having a E G A M to worry about growing an alter ego.” mild bad-boy streak as a teen. “I went I E Chace credits his success to luck to juvie [juvenile detention] when R I was 15,” he says casually. WI “I want to get to Australia so bad… But he is quick to reassure X 1, us a misunderstanding EDIA RM !e accent, the girls!” E with a pellet gun, “wasn’t PP and some serious good timing. really a serious thing”. SNA During a semester off from college As for love, Chace is single but Blake and Leighton X 3, X 3, play Serena and (“to take time and clear my head”), prefers to keep his personal life private. spoilt Blair (below) EDIA M he auditioned for the Gossip Girl Remarkably, he has been rejected by E pilot. “I have a lot of pinch-me women before. “Yeah, I’ve had my UR moments,” he says. heart broken,” he says shyly. “Where ICT BLAKE LIVELY (Serena van PENN BADGLEY TAYLOR MOMSEN der Woodsen) and LEIGHTON (Dan Humphrey) “I just came into the game at the you want an exclusive relationship and P X 1, ES (Jenny Humphrey) MEESTER (Blair Waldorf) Dan and Serena’s G right time with Gossip Girl – a teen they’re just not thinking that way. A The15-year-old was Squeaky clean Blake, 21, is on-screen relationship M I drama that really hits.” It’s happened…one time.” Y being groomed for a thought to be “threatened” may be over (for Chace’s teenage years were nothing As for Hollywood, he’s just getting ETT spin-off, but it’s thought by the attention Leighton, 22, now), but the couple’s Blake and Penn : G : like that of Blair, Serena, Nate and warmed up. “I’m keen to work on !lm. S her partying ways were receives (despite it revolving off-set romance is are dating O T to blame for producers around her birth in jail to drug thought to have off-set, too Chuck’s Upper East Side privileged I’ve started stretching my legs now.” O H world. “There weren’t any Chuck types And more Gossip Girl is on the way. P nixing the idea. smuggling parents). alienated the cast. at my school, but there may have been Yep, Chace Crawford is de!nitely a Blair or two,” he says. “I was a bit worth getting out of bed for. 102 www.grazia.com.au 103.