If you spent any part of the late 2000s glued to a television screen on Monday nights, you know the vibe. The headbands. The steps of the Met. The toxic but somehow aspirational glamour of the Upper East Side. At the center of that whirlwind were Chace Crawford and Blake Lively, two actors who basically became the face of a generation's obsession with "it" girls and golden boys.
But honestly? The reality of their relationship is a lot different than the fan fiction people have been writing for nearly two decades.
You see them in old paparazzi shots from 2008 and they look like the perfect couple. He was the "Golden Boy" Nate Archibald, and she was the "It Girl" Serena van der Woodsen. Their on-screen chemistry was undeniable, leading to years of rumors that they were secretly hooking up behind the scenes. People wanted it to be true. It made sense. But when you actually dig into the history of the Gossip Girl set, the story of Chace Crawford and Blake Lively is more about a weird, high-pressure professional bond than a secret romance.
The "Secret Hookup" Rumors That Never Quite Died
For years, the internet has been obsessed with the idea that everyone on that show was dating everyone else. And, to be fair, a lot of them were. You had Blake and Penn Badgley, Leighton Meester and Sebastian Stan, and Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr. It was basically a giant, high-stakes dormitory.
Naturally, people assumed Chace and Blake were part of that mix.
There’s this famous story that pops up in Reddit threads and old Page Six archives about a 2008 cast holiday party where people claimed they saw the two of them kissing. It’s one of those "he said, she said" moments that has fueled TikTok edits for years. But here’s the thing: Taylor Momsen, who was right there in the thick of it, literally went on the record back then to say they were just friends.
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"Rumors are rumors," she told OK! Magazine at the time. And she was kinda right.
Recently, Chace Crawford went on the Call Her Daddy podcast and finally spilled some tea about his time on the show. He admitted that he did hook up with a co-star, but he was very specific about who it wasn't. He clarified that it wasn't one of the main, regular female cast members. That effectively rules out Blake, Leighton, and Jessica. So, while Nate and Serena were busy getting messy on screen, Chace and Blake were mostly just navigating the absolute insanity of becoming world-famous overnight together.
Why They Weren't Actually That Close
It’s easy to think of a TV cast as a big happy family, but the Gossip Girl set was notoriously complicated. While Chace and Ed Westwick were literally roommates in Chelsea during the first season (a total Nate and Chuck move, honestly), Blake was often more of a lone wolf.
She wasn't "feuding" with people in the way the tabloids liked to claim, but she wasn't exactly hitting the bars with the guys every night either. Executive producer Joshua Safran famously told Vanity Fair that Blake and Leighton Meester weren't friends—they were just professional. The same seems to apply to the relationship between Chace Crawford and Blake Lively.
Blake was focused. She was trying to go to college (until the show’s success made that impossible) and was in a very serious, very public relationship with Penn Badgley. While the rest of the cast was out partying at 1Oak or Avenue, Blake was often the one keeping it low-key.
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The Social Media "Unfollow" Mystery
If you look at Instagram today, you'll notice something funny. Chace Crawford actually follows Blake Lively. He’s one of the few cast members who still keeps tabs on her publicly. Blake, on the other hand? She doesn't follow him back. She doesn't really follow anyone from the old days.
Does this mean there’s bad blood? Probably not.
Blake is known for her "social media purges" whenever she has a new movie coming out. She basically treats her Instagram like a marketing tool rather than a digital scrapbook of her 20s. Most insiders say the cast just naturally drifted apart. They were coworkers in their early 20s. Think about the people you worked with ten or fifteen years ago—are you still texting them every day? Exactly.
What Chace Really Thinks of the "Serena" Years
In recent interviews, Chace has been surprisingly nostalgic, even if he finds the old episodes hard to watch. He’s talked about how weird it was to be 22 years old and having people scream your name in the street. He and Penn Badgley did a "reunion" of sorts for Variety’s Actors on Actors series a couple of years ago, and they both sounded like war veterans talking about a shared trauma.
They laughed about how Blake was the one who forced Penn to get his first iPhone. She was always the one who was "ahead" of the curve in terms of celebrity and branding. While Chace was just trying to figure out how to act, Blake was already navigating the Hollywood machine like a pro.
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There’s a clear respect there. Chace has never said a bad word about her, and when asked about a potential reunion, he’s always been the first to say he’d do it in a heartbeat—as long as the whole "crew" was involved.
The Reality of the "Golden Duo"
So, what’s the takeaway here? If you’re looking for a secret, decades-long love story between Chace Crawford and Blake Lively, you’re going to be disappointed. Their connection was built on the unique, high-pressure environment of a show that defined an era.
- They were never a real-life couple (despite the holiday party rumors).
- They had very different social circles on set.
- Their "chemistry" was mostly a testament to their acting and the show's writing.
- Today, they are essentially friendly acquaintances living very different lives.
Blake is, of course, part of the Ryan Reynolds power couple dynasty, raising four kids and running brands like Betty Buzz. Chace has successfully pivoted his career, playing "The Deep" on The Boys, a role that is basically a satirical middle finger to the "pretty boy" image he had during the Gossip Girl years.
How to Follow Their Current Projects
If you want to keep up with what they're doing now—because let's be real, they're both doing better work now than they were in 2009—here is where to look:
- Watch The Boys on Prime Video: This is where you see Chace Crawford actually get to show off his comedic timing. It’s the polar opposite of Nate Archibald.
- Follow Blake’s ventures: Between her movies like It Ends With Us and her beverage lines, she’s more of a mogul than an actress these days.
- Check out Podcrushed: Penn Badgley’s podcast often features old cast members. Chace has been on it, and it’s the closest thing we’ve gotten to a real, honest look behind the curtain of their shared past.
The "Golden Duo" might have been a fantasy created by The CW's marketing department, but the impact they had on pop culture is very real. They don't have to be best friends for the nostalgia to stay intact.
For more context on how the Gossip Girl cast has moved on, you can look into the recent interviews from the 10th and 15th anniversaries of the show, where the creators finally stopped being "hush-hush" about the behind-the-scenes dynamics. It turns out, the real lives of the actors were just as complicated as the characters they played—just with fewer headbands and more professional boundaries.