We Should Promote Women Not Having to Wear Makeup, Says Leighton Meester

Just like the ladies on the talk show The Talk, “Gossip Girl” star Leighton Meester doesn’t understand why makeup on women is a prerequisite and not an option they could consider if they wanted to.

The actress is featured in the latest issue of Cosmopolitan UK magazine with a photospread and an interview, in which she talks about, among other things, beauty and body image (quotes via the Daily Mail).

Though the spread shows her as dolled up as her “Gossip Girl” character Blair Waldorf usually is, Leighton says she’s quite the opposite of that.

She doesn’t wear makeup on a daily basis and doesn’t understand why any woman should feel forced to do so.

“I don’t care if there are a million pictures of me with no makeup. I love being able to walk down the street without it. We should promote women not having to wear makeup, or at least feel we can go out without it,” she says.

She “preaches” the same attitude towards other things that women usually fret about. Body image is relevant only in so much as you let it be.

Leighton did not have an easy childhood and, partly because of that, she still has some issues in communicating with the people around her.

She’s awkward and she’s quiet, but at the very least she knows who she is, what she expects of herself and can, as such, appreciate herself better.

“I wish I was stronger and more flexible. But I can always say, ‘I’d love my body if my legs were thinner, I’d love my hair if it were thicker’,” she tells Cosmo of the things she’d like to change about herself if she could.

However, she adds, the healthier option is to just be happy with what you have instead of losing sleep over the things you can’t have.

“You can do things to change the way you look, but it’s good to just say, ‘I love myself in this moment.’ As soon as you stop getting pimples, you start getting wrinkles, so what’s there to be upset about?” she says with a smile.