Taylor Momsen reveals what she’s looking for in a partner in rare insight into personal life 

Taylor Momsen has been open about her views on love and relationships in a way that fans rarely got to see. The Pretty Reckless frontwoman spoke candidly about the challenges of finding love while juggling a life on the road.

“I’m a very, very trusting person,”

she shared during the Nov. 5 episode of Call Her Daddy.

“I’m a very guarded person at the same time. So, anyone I let into my life—in any form of a relationship—there's a life bond there.”

For Taylor Momsen, love wasn’t something casual or temporary. She admitted she wasn’t interested in “letting people into my life that are fleeting,” and was instead “looking for something that has depth to it. That is filling something that I need in my life.”

When asked what she wanted in a partner, the actress and singer didn’t hesitate. She wanted someone “smart, kind and, of course, funny,” adding,

“Gotta be funny, gotta make me laugh.”

She also explained what a deal-breaker for her was: compatibility with her music.

“We have to have the same musical taste or that’s just not gonna work. That’s just not gonna work at all.”

According to Coming Soon’s 2024 report, Taylor Momsen was reportedly single at the time. Through the years, rumors have tied her to a few well-known names, Chace Crawford, Skandar Keynes, Jack Osbourne, and Natt Weller, though none of those connections were ever confirmed.

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Taylor Momsen talks about dating challenges and her first heartbreak:

On her Call Her Daddy episode, Taylor Momsen didn’t just share what she wanted in a partner, she also described what she didn’t. She explained that she no longer had patience for anyone

“who isn’t interested in me or me,”

revealing that she had once gone through a phase of dating men

“that were interested in what I had to give them and what I had to offer them, especially around the [Gossip Girl].”

“I’m talking about people who were in the industry at the time but weren’t necessarily as successful, and using me for something other than myself,” she shared.

In 2023, during a more lighthearted conversation on SiriusXM’s Podcrushed with Penn Badgley, Momsen revisited an early heartbreak, her first crush on Supernatural star Jared Padalecki. She recalled meeting him on a red carpet and being completely starstruck.

“I went up and I was like, ‘He’s gonna fall in love with me. I’m in love with him. How can he not fall in love with me?’” she shared.

“And I went up to him and said ‘Hi,’ and he was so tall, and I had to look way up. He was nice, but he didn’t love me back, so that was my first love, my first heartbreak all in one fell swoop,” she added.

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Taylor Momsen reflects on leaving Gossip Girl and finding freedom in music:

Beyond the talk of dating, Taylor Momsen’s Call Her Daddy interview turned introspective when she revisited her exit from Gossip Girl, a choice that shaped her career more than a decade ago.

Taylor Momsen explained that while walking away from the show in 2010 felt right personally, it was anything but simple professionally. She had been under what she described as a “lock-and-key contract” with the CW and Warner Bros., making her path to freedom complicated. Eventually, she persuaded the writers to write her out, and, as she put it, she simply “Irish dipped” from the set.

When host Alex Cooper asked, “Can you talk to me a little bit about having this hard time between separating yourself from Jenny Humphrey and Taylor, and how did you mentally do that?” Taylor Momsen didn’t hesitate.

“Well, I quit, I left. I went, ‘I can’t do this.’ It was a struggle there for years, but what I did was I treated it very much like a job. I was professional, I showed up,” she shared.

Taylor Momsen had long known where her heart was, in music. But convincing others was another story. As she told Cooper, people had a hard time taking her seriously as a 14-year-old fronting a rock band. Asked how early she knew she wanted to leave, she admitted it was by Season 2, when she first started The Pretty Reckless.

“I knew I had to leave, but at the same time, leaving a career that is so prosperous was not easy. It was an easy decision for me. Sorry, I shouldn’t say, not easy. Not easy. Not easy in the way of, like to actually get outta a contract was not easy,” she explained.

She went on to describe the emotional toll that came with trying to leave something that had brought her fame.

“This was hard, so it started with a, ‘I don’t wanna do this anymore,’ but you are in a lock-and-key contract with CW, Warner Brothers… it was a very long battle of me arguing everyone and going, ‘Get me outta this. I can’t do this anymore. This is killing me,’” she shared.

Momsen said she faced criticism for wanting out. “You’re called ungrateful,” she added.

“And you’re called all the things that come along with, ‘How dare you turn your back on something that’s been so successful for you.’ That was hard.”

Things did work out for her, as Taylor Momsen continues her journey with The Pretty Reckless.