Sebastian Stan Hints Leighton Meester Was His 1st ‘Serious Love’

Sebastian Stan fondly looked back at a romance during his Gossip Girl era, presumably with ex-girlfriend Leighton Meester.

“It was the first time I was in serious love with somebody,” Stan, 42, told Variety in an interview published on Thursday, September 19, about his time on the Gossip Girl set.

Stan, who played Carter Baizen, recalled filming the hit series, adding, “Walking around the city, seeing these same buildings and streets — life seemed simpler.”

Though Stan didn’t name Meester, the couple started dating in 2008 after meeting on set of Gossip Girl. “I’m a really lucky guy,” Stan gushed at a movie premiere in 2009, one year before their split. “She’s the most interesting, sophisticated, talented, and an extremely funny person that I know. She’s really hilarious.”

Stan was asked whether he was bothered by Meester’s onscreen romance with Ed Westwick, to which he responded, “It’s work and everyone shares the same mentality when it comes to that. But we all laugh about it. The good part is I get to go home with her.”

After their breakup, Stan was linked to Dianna Agron and Jennifer Morrison. He first sparked romance rumors with Annabelle Wallis in 2022, but neither of them have publicly addressed the speculation. In May, the actress was spotted at Cannes Film Festival in France to support Stan at the Apprentice movie premiere.

Meester, 38, meanwhile, found love with now-husband Adam Brody. They originally crossed paths in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until a decade later that they reconnected and started dating. Meester and Brody, 44, got married in 2014 and have since expanded their family with 8-year-old daughter Arlo, 8, and a 3-year-old son.

“My wife and I actually got married very fast after we started dating. That’s how sort of easy a decision it was for me and us,” Brody said on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in March 2023. “I was never scared of the idea of marriage or kids. It always seemed like a route I would go [down] eventually, and I was excited too when it came together [and] when I met the right person.”

Brody recalled being interested in Meester instantly despite his now-wife needing a few “years” to see him in the same light.

“She remained elusive to me for so long, you know, and aloof,” he explained on an April 2023 episode of Stitcher Studios’ “Popcrushed” podcast. “I couldn’t get a total read because even though she professe[d] to have been interested in me and all those things — not only did she not pursue that, I mean, she was perfectly willing to let that never happen.”

Brody joked: “She was perfectly willing to let that message in the bottle return to sea at several points. [Leighton] says, ‘Oh, it’s because I knew if we did [date] it would be a thing.’ Or, like, ‘It’s too powerful.’”

Meester recently opened up about how her and husband Brody have sustained a healthy and happy marriage.

“I don’t think there’s any kind of secret. I think it’s individual,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2023. “In our case, I think we get along. We like each other a lot.”