Gossip Girl is back. Well, not just yet.

Although the Upper East Side’s most scandalous crew doesn’t return to the small-screen until Sept. 14, the CW is giving us a little sneak peek about what to expect this  season.

It looks like summer love got the best of everyone, including Chuck Bass who is spotted making out (not with Blair!) and Nate Archibald who has his hands on a new hottie.  Oh, and Serena Van Der Woodsen--you can expect that wardrobe malfunction to wind up on the next GG blast.

Leighton Meester got a taste of her own medicine when she was the subject of sex tape rumors back in June.

The actress, who plays conniving Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, is finally setting the record about her real-life brush with some not so nice rumors.

“[The tape] is not real, so it makes me sort of sad. It’s unfortunate that it got carried as far as it did,” Meester tells the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar about reports she appeared in an X-rated video a few years ago.

But, the upside of the scandal is the lesson 23-year-old Leighton learned about the price of fame. She tells the mag, “I don’t want a lot of what comes along with all of this.”

“I definitely understand the nature of people better now and that the mere allegation of something like that could be headline news,” she added. “People think it’s real because somebody says it is.”

Sex tape or no sex tape, is Leighton anything like her on-screen character, Blair?

“I’ve never been crazy. I’m a very good girl, to be honest,” Meester tells Bazaar. “I don’t do anything to hurt anybody. Honestly, all I ever do is work.”

Leighton is currently filming season 3 of Gossip Girl, which returns Sept. 14 on the CW.

Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester has just landed herself a record deal, signing with Universal Republic Records, the label announced today.

The 23-year-old shed her Upper East Side image last month to cover Kim Carnes’ raspy old-school hit “Bette Davis Eyes.”

Get a sneak listen of Leighton’s electric/pop sound here:

Freida Pinto goes from slumdog to Bond girl, Leighton Meester gets a roommate, Linda Hamilton joins Terminator Salvation and more.

Leighton Meester, better known to most as the Queen of the Upper East Side Blair Waldorf, admits she has a lot in common with her Gossip Girl character.

Like Blair, Leighton has a thing for bad boys like Chuck Bass. 

“I think guys who are rebels and make their own rules are appealing,” the 22-year-old actress tells the March issue of Seventeen. “I don’t want to tame anybody. I want them to be dark and bad.”

So what is Leighton’s idea of the perfect guy?

“[G]uys who are a little bad – and by bad, I mean they’re not like constantly around – I consider gold.

“Guys who are unavailable are actually a dream come true for me because I’m unavailable all the time. It’s great they’re not down your throat,” she says.

Although Leighton may be “unavailable” most of the time, she has made room to date fellow actor Sebastian Stam since ’07.

She says of her dating past, “I haven’t ever really relied on relationships with guys. … They come around and it’s cool, but it’s never been a big thing. I guess I’ve just been really distracted by work.”

While Leighton and Blair may both have had their share of a gossip-worthy past, (Meester was born while her mother was serving jail time), it has actually taught the actress a valuable lesson.

“I’ve noticed some people get very enthralled with people bashing,” she tells the mag.

“Sometimes people can’t help themselves. But I find a way [to] back out and not talk about other people.”

Looks like Leighton could teach Blair Waldorf a thing or two.

Gossip Girl castmates Blake Lively, Chase Crawford and Leighton Meester are victims of some not-so-nice graffiti.

Leighton Meester is pumping up her pipes to record an album.

“I am yeah,” she said when asked whether she would be cutting some tracks. “Technically, yeah I am. I mean, for real this time.”

The Gossip Girl star added in an interview with Access Hollywood that she’s “always done [music]” but that right now she’s “actually doing an album [she plans] to release.”

“It’s so cool because it’s a completely different creative process [than acting],” Meester added. “From beginning to end it’s yours and you make it… You can see the finished product.”

The 22-year-old actress is looking forward to branching out into music.

“It’s sometimes hard when you’re acting to be like, ‘Oh I see the finished product right before my eyes,’” she says. “So it’s cool you’re there from start to finish when you are writing.”

But Gossip Girl fans needn’t worry. Meester is one-hundred percent behind the sexually-charged teen soap.

“There’s so much drama it’s really crazy,” she said. “They’re just really taking it over the top, like juicy and scandalous because that’s Gossip Girl. That’s our show.”

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