“Gossip Girl” star Taylor Momsen celebrates her sweet 16th birthday by performing with her band The Pretty Reckless at the Hiro Ballroom and then blowing out the candles on her special cake.

Bauer Griffin

Bauer Griffin

Every week, teenagers around the country tune in to Gossip Girl to see Taylor Momsen play Jenny Humphrey – a high school rebel with requisite teen angst. But just to be clear: Momsen says she’s hardly a typical 16-year-old in real life.

“I live a very adult life,” the high school graduate (she got her diploma two years early!) tells Teen Vogue in the September issue, hitting stands August 4. “What am I going to do, hang out with high school kids? I just can’t relate to what they talk about – it seems so petty.”

And that includes high school boys. Momsen, who claims to have been in “lots of relationships,” admits that she could never date someone her own age. “Boys are so much less mature than girls as it is,” she explains. “I would eat a boy my age alive.”

Instead, Momsen is eschewing the idea of a traditional college education, opting instead to take a few classes online, sing in her band, Pretty Reckless, and act, of course.

“I’m an artist; I’m not going to use trigonometry,” she says matter-of-factly. “For most people college is a place where you learn about yourself, and I feel like I’m doing that already. I’m already independent.”

But what about college friends? “I have such trust complexes,” Momsen confesses. “I’m close to like, two people.”

Still, all her insecurities seem to fade away when she steps in front of a crowd to sing her music. Having spent most of her life in front of a camera (Momsen began modeling at age 2), she’s used to the spotlight, and doesn’t mind if her Gossip Girl fans don’t understand her rock star persona or her new look.

“I’m pretty, but I’m not, like, a ‘pretty girl,’ ” she says, adding that she modeled her new ‘do on a Joan Jett photo. “I know people were a little, um, taken aback. But it wasn’t me that changed – it was just that I decided to start being myself.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

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Megan looks gorgeous!

Check out the other stars below: Megan Fox, Shia Labeouf, Josh Duhamel, Kim Kardashian & Reggie Bush, Vanessa Minnillo, Taylor Momsen, Kendra Wilkinson, Odette Yustman & Dave Annable.

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Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen returned to the set Friday after being hospitalized on Sunday for what her doctor called a “severe, potentially life-threatening throat infection.”

According to a GG insider, the 15-year-old starlet returned to New York City from California on Thursday. Taylor, who is eager to get her GED, was in Los Angeles to take a school exam. She’s expected to film a scene after sunset on Friday in Brooklyn Heights.

But Taylor, a fixture on the NYC party scene, may want to take it easy for a while. As reported in the new issue of Star, the former child star has a wild side. Photos surfaced in September of Taylor at a club, looking wrecked and kissing a female friend. And sources say something is definitely going on between the blonde babe and her 23-year-old costar Chace Crawford.

Source

Taylor Momsen is hospitalized with a “severe, potentially life-threatening throat infection,” her doctor tells Usmagazine.com. “I have been treating Miss Taylor Momsen for the last few days,” Dr. Shawn Nasseri tells Us. “She has been hospitalized for a severe, potentially life-threatening throat infection since Sunday. “She has been an excellent patient, and after aggressive antibiotics and medications, she is expected to make a full recovery in the next three to five days,” the doctor adds.

Momsen, 15, was in L.A. to take a school exam when she “woke up with a sore throat,” a source close to the actress tells Us. “She thought it was just a common cold, but was advised to see an ear, nose & throat specialist before getting on a plane back to New York,” the source adds. After discovering how serious the situation was, “her mom flew out to get her, and is flying back [to NYC] with Taylor this week. “She’s in unbelievable spirits” despite the diagnosis, the source says.