Blake Lively Celebrated Gossip Girl’s 18th Birthday With Throwback Photos

Hey Upper East Siders, Gossip Girl here, and Serena van der Woodsen is getting a little nostalgic. On Sept. 21, Blake Lively celebrated the 18th anniversary of her breakout series Gossip Girl by posting never-before-seen throwback photos with many of her former co-stars, including her ex-boyfriend Penn Badgley and the late Michelle Trachtenberg.

Taking to Instagram, the actor shared a slideshow of snapshots from the cast’s time on and off set, some of which were developed and displayed on a wooden table. Highlights include Polaroids with on-screen BFF Leighton Meester, a bouncy house photo with Chace Crawford, wearing matching outfits with Ed Westwick, and funny face photos with Badgley and Trachtenberg.

“The summer gossip girl turned 18...,” Lively captioned the post. “This show was my college. It was my education, my social life, my hardwork, my late nights and early mornings, my teacher. New York City and Silvercup Studios (& sometimes Paris) was my campus for SIX years. So many memories. What. A. Decade. What a University.”

She also shared several behind-the-scenes photos from iconic Gossip Girl episodes, including one of her channeling Marilyn Monroe alongside Meester’s Audrey Hepburn from the Season 5 episode “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” (complete with a musical number), and her and Badgley’s Cotillion outfits from Season 1’s “Hi, Society.”

Lively played the show’s leading prep school socialite Serena van der Woodsen on all six seasons of Gossip Girl, which premiered in September 2007 and concluded in December 2012. She was one of the only actors to appear in every episode of the series, alongside Meester, who played Serena’s BFF Blair Waldorf, and Badgley, who played Serena’s love interest Dan Humphrey.

Blake’s Gossip Girl Reunion

Lively has been feeling a surge of Gossip Girl nostalgia lately. In July, she reunited with Zuzanna Szadkowski, who played Blair’s housekeeper Dorota, in an ad campaign for her beverage brand Betty Booze. In true Gossip Girl fashion, the two secretly meet up in Central Park, where Lively is surprised to learn that her former co-star has lost Dorota’s Polish accent.

“You sound different,” Lively tells her, who blames it on “allergies” before proudly telling her that she has tea, introducing Betty Booze’s new Vodka Iced Teas. But after she leaves, Szadkowski slips back into Dorota’s accent. “Oh, Miss Betty, you’re gonna get us in trouble,” she declares.

Lively shared the reunion on Instagram while nodding to a Gossip Girl meme by captioning the post, “Go. Sip, girl.”