What Jessica Szohr Learned About Wealth in Gossip Girl and the Money Trail of Entertainment

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3:14Hey Upper East Siders, Money Girl here. Spotted, Vanessa Abrams, all grown up. Only off screen, she goes by Jessica Zor. And trust me, her story is just as compelling. Okay, that was my best Kristen Bell impression. I also didn't know she was the voice of Gossip Girl for so long when I found out I was shooketh. But anyway, I did not land that at all. But I tried, and that's okay. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you probably don't know Gossip Girl lore. But you still know our guest today, actress Jessica Zor. because if you didn't see her in Gossip Girl, you definitely saw her in the Orville, Shameless, Twin Peaks, or any of the other dozens of credits on her very well-stacked IMDb page.

3:57But what you do not know are the lessons that Jessica has learned about money throughout her career. And you don't know this because she has never actually talked about them publicly before. But today, she really opens up. We talk about her earliest money memories, like how it felt to book major six-figure modeling jobs before most of us had a checking account. We get into some real stuff, advocating for yourself financially, how much or how little actors talk about pay, and yes, we talk about Gossip Girl. We unpack how money was a main character of the show, what it taught her about wealth and status early on, and some real behind-the-scenes stuff like what Leighton Meester texted her when the series took off, the crazy way she was discovered for this role and why she had to hire a bodyguard.

4:44She also breaks down when we talk about her co-star, Michelle Trachtenberg, who tragically died earlier this year. Jessica was so open, so generous, and so honest in this conversation about her career, about motherhood, and what she's learned the hard way. I really felt like I got a little bit of her light just by hearing her talk, and I hope you feel the same way. XOXO. Here's Jessica. Jessica Zor, welcome to Money Rehab. I just, I love what you do. I love that you're a new mom. And yeah, all the things. How is motherhood going for you? It's going. She's six months, right? She's six months. Oh, yeah.

5:24It's a work in progress. I have no idea what I'm doing, but like we don't know what we're doing in many areas of our lives. Yeah. With Bowie. I remember my grandma once was like, just look around. Everyone had, you know, we all got through it. And it's true. Like you just learned. but it is like wild when you think about it. Like you grew this human and then this beautiful human that you can never express the amount of love you have. This amount of love, it's just like the craziest thing. And then you're just like going with it. You have to make sure this little beautiful human is eating, sleeping, staying alive, laughing.

6:01I mean, it's like one day you're not a mom and the next day you are and you're just like thrown into it. It's so crazy. You're never not again. I know. Oh, I was going to be somebody's mama. And it's interesting because I think a lot about, it brings up a lot of memories of how I was raised and especially my relationship with money. Like I've never thought, I mean, I thought about money for the last 20 years and how to talk about it and how to talk about financial literacy and make it accessible and all these things. But I never really like dug in and I have a lot of financial trauma, but I never dug into like how I was spoken to about money and then how I want to change that for my own daughter.

6:38You know, if I heard we can't afford that, you know, growing up, did that affect how I looked at scarcity or abundance? Like, did that affect my mindset about money? Did that affect how my confidence was later on in my career? Like, how do I want to talk about money when my daughter can talk? Cause she cannot talk. She coos. It's so cute. But let's go back to the beginning of your money memories. I mean, I know that your daughter's four. You're probably thinking about this type of stuff with her too. Like, what's your earliest memory of money growing up? Oh, yeah. Okay. So my dad was a spender and my mom was super frugal.

7:18Super frugal. To the point where sometimes I'm like, well, maybe that was just being cheap. They were very like on one end, totally one end to the other. My dad would, we'd come home from like a soccer game or something. And he would have like speakers being delivered with like these huge screen TVs and like all these like gadgets and all these things. And my mom would be like, we don't need this. This is so expensive. What are you doing? We need to save for this and save for that. So you ended up somewhere in the middle. I ended up somewhere in the middle. I'm a little bit, Brad's definitely helped me like tighten my spending.

7:52And I think Brad has a really good take on money, view on money. He goes and talks to his business manager once a week. That was something I was like, what? And he's like, you need to be on top of that, going in, checking monthly, if not weekly. And I also think a big thing that Brad taught me too is like, just because you're paying someone to help with your money doesn't mean like you still need to overlook all of that. Like they can be helping you, but like, you need to make sure that like your money is constantly making you money. Like, just cause you're paying them doesn't mean that they're putting it all where it needs to be.

8:28You know what I mean? So I think that was a big thing. with marriage too. So like, I don't know how you guys split up the expenses or the savings or the investing, but like, if somebody does it, that doesn't mean that the other person shouldn't know what's going on. Oh, 100%. Yeah, totally. But he's really taught me a lot in that because when I moved to LA at 18, I left and I was just like an independent woman only having to worry about like my rent or when I bought my first place or pay my bills or do my investments. So when we became up a team, it opened my eyes to a lot of a lot of things. Yeah, but I'm sure you taught him stuff too.

9:07I mean, sister, you were modeling when you were a kid, you were acting, you had a ton of big jobs with huge companies, national commercials, you know, modeling for Jansport and Kohl's and Mountain Dew, right? I mean, you started working so early on. And I'm always so fascinated with child actors who have a business manager because kids don't have business managers if you're not in this industry? Like, how does that change your relationship that early on with work and money and the value? Yeah, I remember because I started modeling when I was like five in Milwaukee, I was with an agency, Arlie Wilson's there.

9:42And then when I was 10, moved to the Chicago agency. And I remember having to like join the union at 10 and things with taxes. But I was so young that I didn't really know what was going on. I remember when I moved to LA at 18, I was like, oh my God, I got to file for taxes. Like I have to do this all on my own now. Like my mom's not here. Did your mom keep your money in a bank account for you? They had a bank account for me that was saved with all like the modeling and commercial money that I made because they didn't want me to have to take out a loan for school. And then I didn't end up going to school.

10:14I moved to L.A. But what was nice is I didn't have to move there and become a waiter right away to pay for my headshots and stuff. I was able to kind of take acting classes and focus on that, which was really nice. And I didn't really realize how special that was and how unique that was until I got there. I'm like, oh, my God, these people are like, there's millions of people here trying to do it. You know, tons of people having to work three or four jobs and still try to make their auditions during the day. So I was very blessed that I was able to move with money in my account to Los Angeles.

10:45Yeah. So she kept it for you and sort of gave you an allowance of sorts? And then when I kind of like early 20s, it was kind of just turned over into my name. And I didn't get a business manager until I booked Gossip Girl. And that was kind of wild to me because when you're acting, you know, you're just for me as an actor, I wanted to book a job that told the story that people felt something that I grew. I was never really thinking about like, I need this job and I want to make money and I want to become rich and I want to become famous. It was never about that. So when you book a job that ends up hitting the way Gossip Girl did and people responding around the world, It was like it put us on the map in a different way and financially.

11:25I mean, we were getting paid for appearances. There wasn't social media then. Like now you can get paid for posts and all those kind of things. Back then it was kind of like you're getting paid to go to Fashion Week or you're getting paid for these appearances, let alone making the money on CW for a show that hit pretty big. We had to get a business manager. We had to get publicists, lawyers. Like I was like, this is crazy. It was also crazy how much like a publicist was a month. I remember Ed and I were like, we're not paying that much a month. And they're like, you guys really need to have one.

11:55People are starting to follow you. Like Warner Brothers was really wanting all of us to have that. And it ended up being very necessary. And I am still with my same publicist to this day. And she's amazing. But that was interesting to be like, oh my gosh. Did you know how much all this stuff was? No, not at all. And you also, you know, bought yourself some celebratory stuff along the way, right? Like when you first booked, So Gossip Girl, didn't you get yourself a Fendi purse that's still in the family? It is. I think my cousin, my cousin Sydney has it now, but I, yeah, that was the first thing.

12:29And I'm not like this crazy designer, like the few designer purses I have. Brad's gotten, gotten me for like Mother's Day or my birthday. And I don't get me wrong. I love them and I'll rock them all the time. But I just never, to me was like, okay, I'm going to go and spend$1 ,200 or$2 ,500 on a purse. It just didn't like click with me. That time I'm like, I deserve, like I'm going to pay for this like designer person. I'm going to go in and do that. And that was like, I remember on Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills and it felt good. Yeah. It felt freaking good. Let's celebrate it. You worked your ass off.

13:01Yeah. It's not about doing it every day. And it's also like, there's a sweet spot between thinking you're going to live forever and thinking you're going to die tomorrow. And I think people ended up getting stuck on both sides of the extremes. And the truth is like, you can't hoard and, you know, not ever get yourself something to celebrate. And also you can't spend all the things like there is somewhere in between that makes the most sense where that is, is it for forever? Sure. Totally. I also don't really think like growing up thinking, just talking about my siblings, like I don't know. I was born in 85, but I don't really know that there was like a ton of conversation about like money and savings with kids growing up in the 80s.

13:47I don't know any of my friends still from high school that when we were like 15 had like this plan because their parents have talked about money as kids and then in high school. Do you know what I mean? I think everyone was like kind of focused on where were they going to go to school? What was their, you know, five-year plan, that kind of thing. And now I think it's very different. I don't know if it's the access to the internet and all these podcasts where you can get information or that we finally realize is our, you know, our generation is like, okay, we need to talk about this. Or I just don't think it really was.

14:18I mean, do you feel like your group of friends had open conversations about money with their friend? I just, I don't know one friend that was like, yeah, this is my parents, like not one. No. And also it's so hilarious. I mean, even now, like to talk to kids and ask them how much they think things cost, like a car or a house. Like I had no idea. I had no perspective about it. I mean, do you think about that with your daughter now? Like how to change that cycle or not, not that you needed to break a cycle. Cause it sounds like it was pretty run of the mill. Like your parents fought sometimes about money.

14:52It was nothing super extreme, but it sounds like you wanted to change that for your own relationship and probably how your daughter learns about money from you. Totally. They watch you for everything. Yeah, totally. And I definitely do want her to be aware. I also think being aware of spending. Like, we come up here, we're in Flagstaff, and we're members here. So, like, when she goes to get a milkshake or get something, she doesn't see us handing over a card because it goes on to our account, which is not always cute at the end of the month. But like I said to Brad the other day, because I have a stepdaughter who's nine, Like we should really explain to them, this isn't free.

15:35Like that's a$6 milkshake. And so you're going to finish it or we're not going to get it. If you're just like going to take two sips because you think it's free. And that seems very like little and not like a big deal, but it is to be aware of like, we left lunch the other day and they had some friends and there was like four large lemonades, three milkshakes and not, I'm not being cheap, but they were just sitting. I'm like, oh my God, they just don't understand that. Like we just, that all needs to be paid for. yeah so I couldn't get a drink growing up that was like a special occasion when you could get or something I remember if people had like gushers I'd be like oh they're rich my mom would never we couldn't afford gushers to go hit my lunch so let's go back to a time where you felt like you needed money rehab was there something that you picked up in your 30s that you wish you knew in your 20s about money?

16:32Yeah. I do feel like you have to remember money doesn't grow on trees. And even when you do have money coming in, you don't know when that'll stop or when the stock market crashes. You just have to be prepared, I feel like. And there was a moment in time where I was just picking up and going on trips. I was in a relationship where I was really covering everything for him, which was when I look back is like unbelievable. Wait, tell me more about that. The amount of money that I spent. You supported? It was crazy. Yeah. For like two years. And it's, I remember my mom being like, you're going to regret this.

17:07And it's not just a money thing. Like, this is not cool. And yeah. So I went, I like went through a lot of money and then I was a hostess at a sushi bar on sunset. And then I ended up sitting Madonna at the wrong table and I got fired. wait this was pre-gossip girl yes then I went and I started working right down the street at this place called Sunset Kids and then that's where my manager Lena Rocklin who I'm still with was like looking at me while I was wrapping a gift and she's like what what do you do here and I'm like I mean you know I moved here from Wisconsin to act kind of did modeling growing up and she's like yeah you should be on tv and I'm like thanks that's so nice I have a manager and agent and she's like well they're not doing their job and then I took a meeting with her because I felt she just it this like really laid on my heart for like three days I called my mom I'm like can you pray about this with me I feel like there's something with this woman but I don't want to be disrespectful to my team but I also didn't like up and leave my family and be on the grind of this to like just sit and wait for people so I I left my manager so that I wasn't shady and then took a meeting with her I really had faith that like I was going to go with this woman and something was going to work out because I literally left my manager without fully signing with her.

18:22Cause I just felt that was the right thing to do. It's kind of weird. Like with managers and stuff in our, in our industry, it's almost like relationships. Like if you end up leaving your agent or manager, it's like, you're, you're like scared to call and tell them there's all this history. It's like really wild. But anyways, I ended up going with her and two weeks later, having a professional breakup is hard. And then you booked gossip girl. I booked a show called what about Brian, which is a JJ Abrams and Brian Burke show that was on ABC and that was my first time being a series regular and seeing quotes and meaning like when you test for something or become a series regular the network has to give you a quote and that's that's what you get paid per episode and then as you book other jobs or test for other pilots whether they go or don't go they have to keep meeting your quote and your quote can keep going up or does keep going up especially if you have a really great team like I do so like by the time I book Gossip Girl my quote had went up a lot from different tests deals and things like that so that was great and then you never know what shows are going to hit or not hit so when we booked Gossip Girl and signed you know for you know our deals we didn't know after the first 13 episodes if we were going to get the back nine if this was going to go on another season and not only did it hit it like exploded in so many different lanes like the fashion world wanted to be a part of our show, the music world, the industry, like we were at every award show.

19:46We were, every designer wanted us to wear their clothes on the show or off the show. It was crazy. Like I'd be like, oh, I just have to walk outside and they're going to take a picture of me wearing this shirt and pay me that much money. This is, this is crazy. And then on top of it, which was wild is the amount of free shit that started coming. Like that's boxes daily. Like the people that can afford it get the free stuff I said I can finally afford all this and I I'm when I say this I mean that and like I I was so grateful I still am when I get stuff I it's crazy but I just remember being like mom you won't believe this yeah so how does it work you you negotiate your per episode rate regardless of if you have one line in the episode or if you're all over the episode well if you're a series regular that's a different contract than if you're you know come on to do three of the six episodes or you know two episodes or if you're a day player so there's all different kinds of contracts and deals and and things like that and you were a series regular yeah i get paid my quote for that episode whether i'm in one scene gotcha or all 42 okay so when you do you get what i'm saying yeah for sure that's awesome yeah i mean that there would be sometimes where we would be like oh we're gonna go to the hamptons for the for the weekend and if you only worked Monday and Tuesday, then I'd have six days off.

21:06And I was, my friend would be like, wait, so you get paid the same amount. Even if you went in all, I'm like, yeah, that's just how it works. Some episodes you're really heavy in. Sometimes you're not, but regardless, you got the same amount. Yeah. Love that. Okay. You book gossip girl. Can you, what is that moment? Where were you? What were you doing? Who told you you got the part? I, well, I remember I was like having a hard time. I was booking things here and there. I'd get like, you know, a couple episodes on this show or, or do this. It was after what about Brent. And I just remember I was like, went through a moment where I'm like, I miss my family.

21:42I miss my friends. I like, cause I moved to LA. I wasn't old enough to go out. I wasn't in school and like, I would be working, but I would like go on a show for two weeks and then be done. So it wasn't like I was like growing a family. Like you kind of do when you're, you're on a show for years where you make some of your best friends, like I did on gossip girl or, you know, shameless and things like that. So I was like wanting to move home. And my mom came out and kind of was like, I think you should just keep going at the easy, the easy thing to do would be to leave and come home. You know, we'll always be here for you.

22:13And don't get me wrong. My mom would have loved for me to move home. But she was also like, I know that you're just like kind of going through a moment. So I kind of stuck it out. I ended up going to a barbecue. My friend and his roommate, my friend, Nathaniel and Adam, who is such a weird and wild story, small world, asked if I wanted to go to this barbecue. And I was kind of like, I don't want to go to one in Hollywood where everyone just talks about themselves and this industry. The irony is that I'm sitting here literally doing that. They're like, no, it'll be fun. We get there. We're talking about life.

22:43We're sitting around the pool. And then two days later, my manager, Lena, called me and was like, what did you do this weekend? I'm like, I went to a barbecue. I went to a movie. Why, what's up? And she's like, there's this pilot called the Gossip Girl that got picked up for the CW. and there's a role that shoots three to four episodes in New York. You were at the creator's house this weekend and they really like you for the role. I was like, I was at Josh Schwartz's house. She's like, yeah. I'm like, oh my God, his name was Josh, but I never put it together. Never mentioned anything. It's actually funny when you hear Josh and Stephanie tell the story.

23:14They're like, we were literally whispering like, this is Vanessa as you were sitting there. I'm like, you were? Why didn't you say something? They're like, we didn't even know if you were an actor. So I end up auditioning. I booked it and was like on a flight like two days later. And then I did the four episodes. And then that episode, I feel like after that ended, I remember being bummed and that the whole cast took me to dinner. And I remember Blake being like, well, you have to come back for another episode. She can't, Vanessa can't just vanish. And I'm like, that's actually true. But they were all like cute.

23:44And I was like really sad, though, because I was, you know, becoming friends and we were living in New York City, running around, going to concerts and plays and just shooting the show. was fun. It's like wearing all the designer clothes and the storylines were so dramatic and crazy. And so, yeah, I ended up coming, was coming back. And now I'll never forget when Lena called, she's like, they want to make you a series regular. So then I, it changed because those three episodes, it was just reoccurring. So that's a totally different contract because now it's like years and, you know, so that was a big change.

24:18Huge. And also I am so fascinated because money is a big character in the show. Did working on the show change the way you thought about money or status? Yeah, because I remember when we got picked up for the back nine late in Texas, she goes, we're rich, bitch. And I was dying laughing. And then I'm like reading a script and I'm like, okay, this kid owns a hotel and drives a limo. The world and the money that these Upper East Side kids are living in, in the show, but actually in real life there too. because I, you know, we filmed up there a lot. I got to know some people whose kids were in high school, you know, that really is like a very small percentage in the world that like lived that way.

24:59I'm not saying exactly the Gossip Girl, but living in these crazy apartments, you know, that overlook Central Park and are going to these schools. I mean, it's wild. I loved Gossip Girl, still love Gossip Girl. I feel like it's made a comeback again. My ex's daughter was watching it and I was just like, this is, this is like such an iconic show and, and money is such an iconic character in it. I thought this is just really like a good look into a world that people don't get access to a lot. As you said, you know, it's, it's a super small percentage. The amount of money that you spend on these schools, I think is up to like a hundred grand or something crazy a year right now.

25:43It's bananas. It just even like have the, to live in New York city, like you walk outside and before you're even in the cab or in the Uber, you're spending it. You're just, I remember saying to one of my best friends, you know, we were living there for the couple of summers ago. And I remember being like, I just walked out and spent$300 and I haven't even got a coffee yet. Like between the, you know what I mean? But it was great. It's just nuts. And it sounds like you became really close friends with your co-stars. Did you guys ever talk about money? Like, did you, is it taboo to ask your, cause now it's much more common to have salary transparency, but did you ever know what your day rate was?

26:24Honestly, I was never, yeah, I was never on any set where anyone had ever asked me or vice versa. I feel like it's kind of like an, you just, you just don't ask. Or maybe that's just how I feel. Cause I I never have, but I've never been asked that. I mean, do you have a favorite memory from that time of your life? I mean, there was so many, so many things. I remember getting there and we were all going out and the show hadn't aired yet, but like there were billboards everywhere in the city and on the sides of buses. And I remember thinking, oh my God, this shows, this shows, they're like putting time and money and energy into this.