From Grinch to grunge

BY GAVIN PATRICK / Multimedia Journalist

A lot has changed since the year 2000. Just ask Taylor Momsen.
 

Most people still define Momsen by her role as Cindy Lou Who in the beloved 2000 film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” She was just 7 years old at the time but has since become the lead singer of a rock band she launched in 2009 -- The Pretty Reckless.
 

Momsen, now 31, is four albums deep into her music career (the band’s latest release in 2021), but a lot of people are still shocked by her seemingly unprecedented evolution from child star to rockstar.
 

In Momsen’s eyes, though, she’s still “kind of the same person,” as she said in a 2020 interview with TODAY.
 

“I grew up, but I think deep down I still got a lot of Cindy Lou Who in me,” Momsen said.
 

That’s the key: she grew up.
 

A lot of times, people find themselves unrecognizable when they look back at an old picture from their childhood. Momsen is no different in that sense.
 

But her upbringing was anything but ordinary.
 

Momsen was introduced to the spotlight at the age of 2 when her parents signed her up with Ford Models -- an international modeling agency. She never wanted to be a 2-year-old working, but she “had no choice,” as she said in a 2010 interview with Revolver Magazine.
 

Momsen never had a normal childhood from that point. She was in and out of school, struggled making friends; she was working all the time -- and it was largely out of her control. 

Although, Momsen later spoke to Kerrang Magazine in 2011 to clarify her feelings about her parents.
 

“I love my mom and dad. Maybe I didn’t have the childhood people think you should have, but I still went through the ages,” Momsen said.
 

Momsen started acting in commercials when she was 3, starring in a national advertisement for Shake ‘n Bake in 1997, before landing her first movie roles in “Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season” (1999) and “The Prophet’s Game” (2000).
 

Though her breakout role, undisputedly, was as Cindy Lou Who in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
 

People love this film for a number of reasons. It’s a Christmas movie (obvious checkmark); it’s a live-action remake of one of Dr. Seuss’s most iconic works; and it tells a beautiful story of how hate is overcome with love, which is largely brought upon by Momsen’s character.
 

Cindy Lou Who is one of those characters that forever defines its performer. Think Tom Holland as Spiderman or Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana (a role Momsen actually auditioned for). 

Even when the actors grow out of that phase and tackle new endeavors and land other big roles, people will always come back to that first, breakthrough moment.
 

Now, Momsen may also be defined by the second big phase of her acting career, which was her role as Jenny Humphrey in the teen drama series “Gossip Girl.” But she left the show at the end of its fourth season to entirely reshape her professional image.
 

Momsen’s desire to be a singer had been in the works for years before it was thrust into the public light. It actually goes back to the set of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Her character, Cindy Lou Who, sings the song “Where Are You Christmas?” in the film, where she found herself in a recording studio for the first time alongside one of the song’s writers, James Horner.
 

Momsen said in the interview with TODAY that the music was what resonated with her most from the film, and recording that song helped inspire her to pursue a singing career.
 

“That was such an impactful moment in my life because it made me go, ‘I wanna make music for the rest of my life,’ ” Momen said.
 

Fast-forward nine years and Momsen is leading a rock band with a name inspired by her life’s tendencies -- Pretty Reckless.
 

No matter how people may react, though, this kind of transformation is normal. Take me for example. When I was 7 years old, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. How’s that turned out? Well, I’m a Sports Communications major pursuing a career as a journalist -- completely out of the realm of what I was thinking back then.
 

Things change, including our interests. And celebrities are people, just like me and you.
 

But Momsen never wanted to be Cindy Lou Who forever or even an actress. She always wanted to pave her own path and express who she really was after so much of her life depended on portraying a character.
 

Momsen said in a recent interview that she grew away from acting because it became “easy” to her, but with music, it’s “more personal because you’re writing it and you’re involved in every step of it.” What Momsen is doing now as a musician is unlike so many aspects of her early life, when she was forced into modeling by her parents.
 

Momsen is truly living her best life in her current career, and like a true rockstar, because she’s doing it on her own terms. Although she truly loved acting and, at least, certain parts of modeling, she no longer has to worry about being someone she’s not.
 

Today, the songs she sings, the way she dresses, the amount of eye makeup she wears or whatever she does -- it’s a reflection of her authentic self. And if she’s always remembered as the girl who played Cindy Lou Who, that’s a great thing, too.
 

So as we settle into the holiday spirit, just remember: if Tom Holland decided to quit acting and launch his version of the Beatles, we’d be saying the same things about him, too.