Chace Crawford Recalls “Instant” Connection With Leighton Meester

We wonder what Serena van der Woodsen and Chuck Bass would have to say about this.

On Feb. 16, Chace Crawford revealed on the XOXO with Jessica Szohr podcast—hosted by Jessica Szohr who played Vanessa on the series—that he and Leighton Meester had an “instant” connection while auditioning for the CW’s Gossip Girl back in the mid aughts.

Crawford, who starred as Nate Archibald, said that during the final audition in Burbank, he kept thinking, “Who’s going to play Blair Waldorf?” 

“They let me into this massive waiting room,” Crawford recalled. “And there was this one girl in this chair at the very end, with her back to me…and I kind of went, ‘Hi, let me introduce myself,’ she turns around, headband on, it’s Leighton.”

“I assumed like, ‘Oh, that’s the girl! Like if she can act, I’m sure she can,'” he said.

“I love that,” Szohr added.

“We kind of had an instant friendship connection,” Crawford continued. “Easy to talk to.”

If only we could’ve been a fly on that wall!