Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer-songwriter, best known for her role as Blair Waldorf in the TV show Gossip Girl.
Meester was born while her mother was serving a federal prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas. Although her mother, Constance, was serving time in prison for her involvement in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States, she was able to give birth to Meester in a...
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Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer-songwriter, best known for her role as Blair Waldorf in the TV show Gossip Girl.
Meester was born while her mother was serving a federal prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas. Although her mother, Constance, was serving time in prison for her involvement in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States, she was able to give birth to Meester in a hospital and nurse her for three months in a halfway house before returning to prison to complete her sentence.
Meester maintained that her parents gave her a normal upbringing and, despite their criminal past, are good people with experience that has only made Meester more open-minded and non-judgmental, "It made me realize that you can't judge anyone—especially your parents—for what they've done in their past, because people change." Meester jokes, "Look, I could've turned out a lot worse."
Meester grew up in Marco Island, Florida, where...
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