Blair Waldorf

Biography

Blair Cornelia Waldorf (married name Bass) is one of the main characters of Gossip Girl, introduced in the original series of novels and also appearing as the lead in the television adaptation; she also appears in the comic adaptation. Described as "a girl of extremes" by creator Cecily von Ziegesar, she is a New York City socialite and a comical overachiever who possesses both snobbish and sensitive sides. Due to her position as queen bee of Manhattan's social scene, Blair's actions and relations are under constant scrutiny from the mysterious Gossip Girl, a popular blogger. Leighton Meester, who portrayed the character in the television drama, has described Blair as being insecure about her social status. At times, this anxiety creates flaws and complexities which contribute to character development. In Meester's view, the true Blair is ultimately a good girl at heart. Blair has been compared to vintage film and literary figures, including Becky Sharp and Lizzie Eustace. She is commonly likened to Lila Fowler of Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High series. Meester's portrayal has also drawn comparisons to roles played by Joan Collins and Audrey Hepburn. She is the most critically acclaimed character of the franchise, while the television character has drawn real-life attention surrounding fashion and her love life.

== Character in print == Gossip Girl is a series of novels about socially prominent young adults in New York City. The story primarily follows Blair Waldorf and her best friend Serena van der Woodsen during their years in high school and college. Due to her fame on the Upper East Side, Blair is featured on the website of "Gossip Girl", an anonymous gossip blogger whose posts appear occasionally throughout the story.

=== Novel series === In the first book, Blair is introduced as a privileged, comically vain overachiever. She is described as an alluring brunette, and occasionally models her appearance and demeanor after famous actresses, including Marilyn Monroe and, most often, Audrey Hepburn. In early novels, the character is also written as bulimic. Blair is largely motivated by matters surrounding family, romance, and ambition. However, her tendency to overachieve can lead to feelings of paranoia, with dramatic or comical results. In a review for The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm remarked that Blair's issues made her "both a broader caricature and a more real person" than the other Gossip Girl characters. In a 2009 interview, Gossip Girl creator Cecily von Ziegesar claimed to identify with Blair the most, stating, "She is so unpredictable and dramatic. Such a bitch, but we understand why she is a bitch and we like her anyway". In the novel series, Blair Cornelia Waldorf is a pretty, perfectionist, hard-working young woman with a compulsive personality and eating disorders. Ambitious and determined, she is willing to do anything to succeed and refuses to back down from any obstacle life places in her path. However, being very impulsive, she often acts out of anger or sorrow, leading her to commit numerous rash actions that she must then undo. Blair cares little about what others think of her; she speaks freely and is less concerned with her impact on others. She is fiercely competitive and authoritarian, becoming irritable when those around her fail to behave as she expects. She uses her charm, money and social clout to get what she wants, as she was raised to believe that she deserves everything she desires. However, she at times shows great empathy, especially toward those younger than herself. She is romantic and idealistic by nature, and frequently imagines her life as a fairy tale. Blair is considered one of the most popular girls on the Upper East Side and has her own entourage. She is described as a fashion enthusiast who always wears the best shoes and clothes in the series and, being very athletic, is also tremendously talented at tennis, a discipline in which she is highly ranked at the national level . Blair is the eldest daughter of the extremely wealthy Harold J. Waldorf III, a renowned business attorney, and Eleanor Wheaton Waldorf, a Scottish protestant socialite— and has a younger brother, Tyler Hugh Waldorf, six years her junior. Her pet is a small Russian Blue cat named Kitty Minky. Blair's parents divorce when her father was caught cheating on her mother with his 21-year-old secretary. His homosexuality being finally revealed, Harold decides to flee the scandal by settling permanently in the south of France with his young lover. After this painful separation, Eleanor meets Cyrus Rose, a Jewish real estate developer, and marries him shortly after. Blair thus acquires an anarchist, pacifist, vegan stepbrother, Aaron Rose, whom she initially cannot stand but who eventually earns her respect. This new union also brings the birth of Blair, Tyler and Aaron’s half-sister, little Yale Rose, named by Blair in tribute to her dream university. At the beginning of the saga, Blair is a student at Constance Billard School for Girls, where she is the top student in her class, and her entire life revolves around her obsession with getting into Yale alongside her boyfriend, Nathaniel “Nate” Archibald - with whom she constantly breaks up and reconciles — and finally turning their relationship into a shared life, perhaps even a marriage. In the early part of the book series, she is also fixated on the idea of losing her virginity to him. Blair idolizes actress Audrey Hepburn so intensely that she tries to live her life the way she imagines her idol would. She often turns various adventures into scenarios she plays out as though she were starring in the movie of her own life. Although beautiful and more than wealthy, Blair is constantly plagued by doubts and her life is far less perfect than she wishes. Despite her excellent academic performance and numerous extracurricular activities (tennis, working in a soup kitchen one night a week, tutoring third graders in reading, taking fashion design course with Oscar de la Renta, chairing the Social Services Board, running the French Club, participating on the planning committee of every social function, doing charity work, presiding several youth organizations, etc.), she sees her college applications inexplicably rejected by most of the universities she applies to during her senior year, except for Georgetown, which immediately accepts her, and Yale, which at first places her — much to her dismay — on its waiting list. Just as she is about to begin her higher education, her father — who has since remarried to a man named Giles — adopts two young Cambodian twins, Pierre and Pauline Waldorf (previously named Ping and Pong), thereby presenting Blair —desperate at the thought of no longer being the center of family attention — with two additional (half-)siblings. After high school, Blair finally enters her dream university, Yale, where she studies political science for four years, hoping eventually to be admitted to law school. During her studies, her ambition even leads her to work on the campaign of a Connecticut senator. She also spent her junior year studying in England, at Saint Peter's College in the Oxford University where she crossed path again with Chuck and started a 12 months romance with him. Finally, in the fourth and final year of her undergraduate degree, she secures an internship at a prestigious New York litigation firm, MacMahon Cannon. Blair has Serena Van der Woodsen as her childhood best friend and, though she loves her with all her heart, spends much of her time envying her. During her senior year, she also becomes the temporary roommate and friend of Vanessa Abrams and serves as a sort of mentor to Jenny Humphrey and Elise Wells. Blair Cornelia Waldorf is described as average height (5'5"), slim and toned. She has long, dark chestnut, walnut-colored hair, cobalt-blue eyes, red lips, an aristocratic chin and a small fox-like face with delicate features. Her chest fills a B cup and she has a well-proportioned figure. She chopped her hair into a pixie cut in Because I'm Worth It, before having it extended in Don't You Forget About Me.

==== Storylines ==== Throughout most of the series' run, Blair grapples with a number of changes within her family. One year prior to the opening novel, Blair's parents divorced after her father ran off with another man. When her mother remarries, and her father leaves the country, Blair has difficulty accepting her stepfather, Cyrus Rose. In addition, her stress over these matters occasionally affects her other relationships. However, Blair ultimately remains close to her father Harold, who she often turns to for comfort. By contrast, she maintains a somewhat tenser relationship with her mother Eleanor. It is also revealed that Blair has struggled with bulimia. In the opening novel, Blair learns of an affair between her friend Serena van der Woodsen and her boyfriend Nate. This marks the beginning of the story's primary love triangle, which recurs throughout the series. Blair's romantic life has various effects on her character development. After Nate repeatedly hurts her, she eventually refuses to take him back until she believes in his ability to commit to her. In pursuing Nate, however, Blair herself cheats on her new boyfriend Pete, which results in her losing both of them. She eventually begins to acknowledge her mistakes, with her father's help. She later grows closer to Chuck Bass (which initially occurred in the series' television adaptation), who she'd previously known for years, which leads them to briefly date one another. Blair is noted for an over-achieving nature, which often appears in humorous scenes. In a review for New York magazine, Emily Nussbaum lauded one of Blair's fantasies, which involves "joining the Peace Corps, getting a killer tan, winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and having dinner with the president, 'who would then write her a recommendation to Yale, and then Yale would fall all over themselves to accept her.' " The New Yorker's Janet Malcolm remarked that unlike some of her forerunners in film and literature, "Blair already has all the money and position anyone could want. She is pure naked striving, restlessly seeking an object, any object, and never knowing when enough is enough." Blair encounters a setback during her interview at Yale by revealing the recent stress in her life, and then kissing her interviewer on the cheek upon dismissal. Her father then makes a donation to the school, though Blair is still wait-listed. In the twelfth book, I Will Always Love You, it is revealed that she has been admitted to the university. In addition to her feelings for Nate, Blair is sometimes said to feel competitive with Serena in other areas, including matters of beauty and popularity. This also leads to an occasional envy on Blair's part. It is unclear how much of Blair's perception of Serena is in line with reality; the narrative describes both characters as "hands down the two hottest girls on the Upper East Side, and maybe all of Manhattan, or even the whole world."

=== Manga series ===

In 2010, Yen Press began publishing a manga adaptation titled Gossip Girl: For Your Eyes Only, written and illustrated by HyeKyung Baek. This series adapts notable scenarios from the novel—including the triangle with Nate and Serena—but also features new material. After losing her position as queen bee, Blair attempts to regain her former status while adjusting to a less privileged lifestyle. In addition to this series, Blair also appears in a manga adaptation of the novel Gossip Girl: Psycho Killer, a parody of horror stories.

== Television series == In 2007, Gossip Girl was adapted for television. According to Cecily von Ziegesar, the television character is largely faithful to the original. Among the aspects to be maintained are her admiration for Audrey Hepburn and her interest in Yale University. However, the series is also noted for its deviations from the source material, including the exclusion of Blair's brother Tyler. The show also explores romances between Blair and multiple male leads, resulting in occasional love triangles. In the fifth season, Blair is revealed to be pregnant with Prince of Monaco, Louis Grimaldi's child. However the child later dies before birth after a car crash Blair and Chuck were in. Among fans and the media, Blair's bond with Chuck Bass was commonly known by the portmanteau "Chair", while her relationship with Dan Humphrey was referred to as "Dair". The nicknames and viewer interest in these relationships were recognized by the show's producers.

=== Casting === They were like, 'Be bitchy and nice, ugly and pretty, young and old, stupid and smart, innocent and slutty, blond and brunette. Can you be all those things?' To prepare for the part of Blair, actress Leighton Meester, a natural blonde, dyed her hair brown before auditioning, and also studied the first novel. She has described the character as multi-faceted, labeling her "a little bit of everything which is pretty amazing." Like von Ziegesar, Meester has also claimed to relate to Blair on certain levels. Prior to the show's debut in 2007, the actress stated that, "The only way to play Blair, or any character, and make her human, is to find what she is inside me. And I know I have my insecurities, too." She went on to say that, "The way Blair and I are not alike when it comes to insecurities is: She pays so much attention to hers!" Meester's casting was described by Yahoo! as a star-making role which moved her "into the pop culture vanguard", while Cecily von Ziegesar has called her a perfect choice. In December 2010, Meester revealed plans to leave the show in 2012. E! Online and other outlets speculated that her departure would possibly mark the end of the series.