Leighton Meester is best known for her confident brunette look as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. But like her co-star Blake Lively, she has changed her hair dramatically over the years. In 2018, Meester surprised fans by trading her signature dark hair for a striking platinum blonde.
The actor shared a selfie on Instagram showing off her new shoulder-length, light blonde hair, which made her almost unrecognizable. Her bright blonde locks, a popular glow-up trend in 2024, led many fans to compare her to Gwen Stefani. One wrote, “Yop! Gwen Stefani sister!” while another said, “Gwen Stefani vibes!” Ten days later, Meester posted another makeup-free photo with her voluminous curls, captioning it, “Still platinum and healthy.”
Explaining the change, Meester told PopSugar, “I recently cut my hair and thought, ‘I just want the exact opposite of what I have. I want to try something completely drastic and different.’ I thought this is the right moment to do it.” She used Nexxus Keraphix Masque for Damaged Hair to keep her hair healthy during the transition.
Though famous as a brunette, Meester was actually born blonde. Gossip Girl co-creator Josh Schwartz told The Hollywood Reporter that she auditioned with her natural light hair but was asked to darken it for the role. “Blake [Lively] was the blond, so we asked [Meester] to color her hair. It was a risky move during pilot season, but she did a sink-rinse dye job to audition as a brunette,” he explained. Meester herself told Elle that she wanted to recapture her teenage blonde hair, which had turned ashy light blonde around age 13 or 14.
In 2003, before her fame, Meester appeared at The Silver Spoon Beauty Buffet with light golden blonde hair. Her warm, highlighted locks complemented her skin tone and gave her a healthy glow. Even then, she proved she could pull off both blonde and brunette looks with ease.
