Blake Lively Featured in Marie Claire

Gossip Girl star Blake Lively is featured in the new issue of Marie Claire this month, and needless to say, the 22-year-old looks stunning as always.

Below are some excerpts and photos from Blake's interview ...

On acting: "As a character, I get to be this wild, outgoing person that I’m so not. It comes from being the youngest of five. I was always observing my siblings and hearing stories about their lives that turned out to to be helpful as an actress."

On Gossip Girl fashion and expression: "Living in New York, I feel stronger and more like a woman than ever before. In high school, it was like, what power do I have - I have long blonde hair, you know? But working as hard as I do now, I feel a sense of power and respect, too.

I’ve learned an incredible amount about fashion on Gossip Girl. For me, clothes are a personal expression, and my style is as ever-changing as I am: I’m at a point when I am growing, maturing, developing, I’m going through new things in my life, and with that, what I choose to wear changes."

On being a Southern girl at heart: "I grew up in L.A., but I was the only one in my family born there. I have a tight-knit Southern family, so whenever I tell people I’m from L.A., they say, 'Yeah but you don’t count.'

I guess it's because of the Southern values I was raised with, and the way I eat - the more sugary and cheesy and fried, the better.

On her early school daze: "When I was only 3 years old, my mom enrolled me in the first grade. My older brother was supposed to start school, but he didn’t want to go alone, so my mom told them I was 6 since I was so tall. But after a few weeks, they said they would have to put me in mentally disabled classes because I wasn’t up to pace with the rest of the kids.

They thought that I was slow because all I wanted to do was sleep while the other kids were doing their projects. [laughs] So my mom took me out of school.”

Click to enlarge more Blake Lively pictures from Marie Claire ...