By Kuya Allen
Photographer - Jana Schuessler // Outfit - Betsey Johnson // Styling - Anna Katsanis // Glam - Whittany Robinson // Hair - Brandon Pietsch // Editor - Kuya Allen // Photo Assistant - Vasilios Smaragdas // Photo Assistant - Hannah Rozelle
Taylor Momsen exists in a space most people never have to reconcile. For some, she will always be Cindy Lou Who, frozen in time at the center of a holiday memory. For others, she is the voice at the front of The Pretty Reckless, all grit, volume, and conviction. The distance between those two images feels vast, almost impossible, which is why the question lingers. Are they separate lives or different chapters of the same one. Is one a character that never let go, while the other is the truest version of herself. Or do they both come from the same instinct, just expressed at different ages, under different circumstances.
That tension is what makes her story compelling. Not the contrast, but the overlap. The idea that identity is not something you discard, but something that evolves, even when the world wants to keep you fixed in a single frame.
In the conversation that follows, Taylor doesn’t dodge those questions. She sits with them. She talks about inevitability, choice, and what it means to honor where you came from without letting it define where you’re going.
1 If you were never cast in The Grinch, how much of your current life do you think would still be the same? Was The Pretty Reckless inevitable without Cindy Lou Who? What would be the same and what would be different?
“If I had never been cast in The Grinch, the core of my life: music, would still be the same. That part always felt inevitable. I was writing songs before I even understood what songwriting really was, so I think I would’ve found my way into songwriting and artistry one way or another.
That said, The Grinch changed the trajectory. It introduced me to the world at such a young age, and it became a cultural touchstone that I never expected. Without it, I probably wouldn’t have had the same level of visibility or the strange dual identity of “child actor who became a rock singer.” Maybe my transition into music would’ve been quieter. Maybe slower, but ultimately inevitable.
The parts of my life that would be the same are the ones driven by instinct, writing music, building The Pretty Reckless, chasing the vision in my head. The parts that would be different. Everything that comes with being recognized before you’ve even figured out who you are.
The Grinch became this beautiful time capsule that followed me everywhere, and without it, I’m sure the path would’ve looked different… but I like to think the destination would’ve been the same.”
2 You’ve really established a brand and persona in music that feels separate from your acting life. Were you consciously trying to separate the two? Why or why not?
“I wasn’t trying to “escape” acting as much as I was trying to finally be myself. That’s the difference people sometimes miss.
Music wasn’t a rebrand; it was a return. Acting was something I did as a job as a child. Music is a part of me, it was always the goal. It’s the only place I’ve ever felt fully connected to myself, and once I was old enough to take charge of my life, I pointed everything at music, I knew there was no turning back.
So was I consciously separating the two worlds? Not in a calculated way. I just wasn’t interested in performing versions of myself anymore. I wanted to create something honest, something that reflected my inner reality instead of a character written on a page. The Pretty Reckless became that outlet. It allowed me to build a world where everything, from the sound to the imagery, was rooted in my own voice.
If that created distance from my acting past, it’s only because music required me to strip everything else away.”
3 How has it felt to make this 25th anniversary project? Has it been healing? What does zooming out on this moment feel like - connecting childhood work to who you are now?
““Surreal” is the only word that even comes close. Revisiting something you did at five-seven years old, something the world connected with so deeply, is emotional in a way that’s hard to articulate. It’s like opening a time capsule you didn’t bury yourself.
There has been something healing about it. Not in a dramatic, cathartic way, but in a quiet, grounding way. I’ve spent most of my adult life moving forward at full speed, rarely looking back. This project forced me to sit with younger versions of myself, literally, in the form of my own childhood voice, and acknowledge everything that happened between then and now. The good, the painful, the growth, the chaos… all of it.
Stepping back and seeing the full-circle moment is wild. I’ve built my life and identity as an artist through The Pretty Reckless, through rock music, through years of grinding on the road. And then here comes this memory from childhood that refuses to fade. Connecting those dots has made me appreciate the strange continuity of life. You don’t see the threads while you’re living them, but when you zoom out, you realize all of it, every chapter, was part of the same story.
This project reminded me that you don’t have to reject your past to move forward. You can honour it, reshape it, and let it evolve with you. And that’s exactly what this anniversary has been for me: a moment to breathe, reflect, and acknowledge the journey from that little girl on set to the woman I am now.”
