The Real-Life Gossip Girls

 by Alice Skewes

Gossip girl: A real gossip girl where she tells you, you guys are best friends and you can keep secrets but then she gossip's about you behind your back.

While not everyone who watched all six seasons of Gossip Girl can relate to the wealthy backgrounds of the characters, most people have dealt with bullying or mean classmates. While a Gossip Girl reboot is here, fans will always want to re-watch the original show for the fashion statements, friendships full of highs and lows, and romance, along with surprising plotlines.

Serena And Hadley Nagel

Serena was based on Hadley Nagel, as many people say. According to Cheat Sheet, she is a socialite in New York City who is very well-known. The publication says that Nagel is a "direct descendent of two men who signed the Declaration of Independence" and a countess of German descent. According to the Seattle Times, Cecily von Ziegesar, the author of the novels that the Gossip Girl TV series is based on, gave a copy of one of the books to Nagel and wrote a note. The note read, "To Hadley, the real thing. I hope you don’t mind being hassled about being the model for Serena. So, so funny! Sounds like you’re doing a lot more important things than Serena ever did, and more beautiful too. XOXO."

The Spence School

While Gossip Girl is not inspired by or based on the life of Charlotte Methven, this writer has said that when she watched Gossip Girl, she was reminded of her teenage years.

Methven went to NYC's Spence School, and as she wrote for The Daily Mail, this school is the real-life version of the school on Gossip Girl. Since Constance Billard School for Girls is based on Spence, it's fascinating to hear her story.

Methven even wrote, "watching it is like seeing a raunchier and somewhat exaggerated version of my own American childhood played out on the screen."

Of Serena and Blair Waldorf, Methven wrote, "best friends and fiercest rivals, they are spookily similar to some of the girls I knew at Spence." She also said that the storylines on the show remind her of rumours that she heard back in the day: "I remember hearing whisperings of older girls dating married men or those who were said to sneak out of their parents’ apartments at night to party at downtown nightclubs. It all seemed terribly glamorous at the time."

The show was known to be a New York fairytale with very archeal types: a princess, a knight in shining armour.