Kelly Rutherford who played Lily van der Woodsen in the original CW’s Gossip Girl said having her newborn on set helped her get into character as Blake Lively’s (Serena van der Woodsen) mother.
Lively is roughly 19 years Rutherford’s junior so they could have had more of a peer relationship on set. But because Rutherford was caring for an infant, she stayed in her trailer over partying with the cast and crew, which only solidified her role as Lively’s mother.
Kelly Rutherford was a real-life and ‘Gossip Girl’ mom
Rutherford recalled being a little separated from the cast because she had just had a baby. “I was a new mom myself,” she said on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. “I mean, I was literally breastfeeding in my trailer. You know, in the beginning, my son was six months old or something. And so it was a lot being a brand new mom, myself and then playing the mom on the show.”
“So, we didn’t all become like chummy friends in a way, which we probably might normally have become more that way had I not – I just didn’t have the bandwidth,” she added. “But it worked out great because there was this sort of separateness that allowed that relationship. I don’t know if I’m articulating that well, but it created enough distance where it worked to be the parent in that way.”
Kelly Rutherford’s ‘Gossip Girl’ character reminded her of her own mom
Rutherford’s character reminded her of her own mother in some ways. “She reminded me a little bit of my own mother, which I loved,” she remarked. “And I liked the idea of playing a matriarch versus just like a housewifey mom or you know, sort of more traditional mom. Because my mother was anything but traditional.”
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“And even though she was very classic and classy and all of those things traditional, her values were traditional,” Rutherford asserted. “But she wasn’t traditional at all and her parenting was fun.”
“I just loved the way it was written,” she added. “I love that she loved fashion because I’ve always loved fashion and even no matter what role I play, I always think it’s so important. So the fact that they really valued that and I could contribute to that with Eric Damon and he was so creative. And I love New York City and I love those women in New York City so much. You know the ones you see walking down Madison Avenue looking fabulous. Those are the women that I’ve always loved. And so to be playing that role was so much fun for me.”
She said Blake Lively was a ‘cool girl’
Rutherford also thought Lively really embodied that “cool girl” persona. “She is just so magical and like, cool. She’s like the cool girl, you know? She just has such a way about her,” Rutherford continued. “She’s so inspiring because she’s really fearless, not afraid of anyone, and very open. I think she comes from a big family and you know, a lot of older sisters. So I think she sort of was used to that person, you know, having that personality of, of getting in the room and really being able to be seen and heard. And she’s just, yeah, just such a cool person.”
Rutherford also loved playing the role of an upscale socialite parent was fun. “I think being in New York City playing the role I hadn’t seen represented on television,” she said. “And the fact that the parents on the show had a great storyline. That they weren’t perfect, that they were still figuring it out too while they were parenting and while they were doing whatever.
“And just getting to work with really talented people,” she added. “The hair and makeup people were beyond talented and the costume people and the writers and just to have it be so cohesive and then actually to have the network behind it and have it be a huge success. I loved going to work every day. Loved it.”
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