The Gossip Corner

Blake Lively (Serena van der Woodsen) recently sat down with W Magazine and said that one of the main reasons she decided to join the cast of Gossip Girl was the possibility of also attending Columbia University, but her producers disagree.

From W Magazine:

[Lively] claims, in fact, that the possibility of attending Columbia University one day a week was a motivating factor behind accepting the role on the show, which is shot in New York. So far, however, she hasn’t enrolled in any classes, and Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage maintain that, while the subject of college did come up during their initial conversations with Lively, the young actress also had less cerebral reasons for wanting to play the über glamorous Serena. “I think the real carrot for Blake was the opportunity for clothing,” Schwartz says, chuckling. “I remember talking to her about that. She was like, ‘Wait, so you’re asking me to move to New York and wear the most incredible clothes, some of which you might actually let me keep?’ So I think the wardrobe-reinvention carrot was stronger than the college-degree carrot.”