Money was no object for the teens growing up on the Upper East Side of New York City on the 2007 CW hit Gossip Girl. Every opportunity was available to Nate Archibald, and only the finest of clothing, liquor and women would suit Chuck Bass. On the other hand, Chase Crawford and Ed Westwick — the young actors portraying the privileged high-schoolers — apparently did not have the same experience. Crawford opened up about the early days of the six-season teen drama, and the reality for him and his co-star was definitely not as luxe as what we saw for their characters.
Nate and Chuck were best friends on the series that made household names of actors like Chace Crawford and Blake Lively, and the actors seemed to be pretty close outside of the show, as well, as Crawford and Ed Westwick shared an apartment back when they were cast for Gossip Girl. But instead of lavish apartments with a plentiful staff and trust funds, the guys chose to get a place together to offset the cost of living in NYC. On Podcrushed, which is co-hosted by fellow Gossip Girl alum Penn Badgley, The Boys actor recalled:
So me and Ed [Westwick], we’d simply just had dinner, and I think Ed had never really spent any time in America, I didn’t even understand New York prices, but we were kind of like, ‘Yo, do you wanna like, it feels like we should probably, it’s expensive, do you want to room together?’ He went, ‘Yeah.’ He never even saw the place. Me and my mom went the summer before after it got picked up.
I can imagine it was probably a relief for both of the actors to have someone to help share those costs for rent and food, as Chace Crawford has admitted to eating “like crap” back then, since it was before they were known as two of the most popular students at St. Jude’s. Especially Ed Westwick, who was traveling to a new country for the job, it sounds like Chace Crawford’s family made it really easy on him, even if he didn’t get to actually see the place they picked out before moving in.
They still needed a bit of help getting started, though, as the Nate portrayer continued:
I had my dad, like, loan us the first and last month’s security deposit because we had no money. I mean we had to pay my dad back, and Ed never saw the place, he just showed up in New York. I think he opened his suitcase and slept on it the first night.
No bed? No problem! Ed Westwick had a roof over his head that he may not have been able to afford otherwise. Who cares if he had to (temporarily, I’m sure) sleep on his suitcase?
While Nate borrowing money from his dad was a move I’m sure the character was familiar with, I’m sure Mr. Archibald never saw it paid back, and I shudder to think about what Chuck would say about not getting to weigh in on any new digs before moving in. I’m sure it wasn’t long, though, before the Gossip Girl cast members — who also included Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley and Taylor Momsen — started earning enough to upgrade a little, or at least pay off anything they had borrowed.
If you want to see what all the Gossip Girl hype was about, all six seasons are available to stream with a Max subscription, as well as both seasons of the 2021 reboot of the same name.