I want every character be an outsider in some way.

It's my experience that the fluidity of sexuality with younger people is more accepted.

If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone.

I was coming off of The O.C. and had very little interest in doing another teen drama. And then I got sent theGossip Girl book series, and I was like, 'I might not be ready to leave high school after all.'

The fun thing about TV is you get the opportunity to discover things, and somebody who starts off in a smaller part can really emerge and surprise you.

The girls in high school who watched 90210? I was watching Seinfeld.

The press always ends up being much nicer than I expect. A lot of times they say something snarky about you, but then you meet them in person and they couldn't be nicer.