thisislondon.co.uk:
Strange things happen to young girls’ faces when you mention that Chace Crawford is in town. They flush and goggle and look like they might cry from happiness. You can practically hear their little hearts beating faster. To them, he is a bona fide, scream-inducing matinée idol. To the rest of us, he’s a guilty pleasure, the cherry on the TV ice-cream sundae that is Gossip Girl, the American drama series about toothsome, privileged young Manhattanites and their endless brunch dilemmas – think Edith Wharton, dressed by J Crew.
When I meet Chace, I go to shake hands but he opts for a quick hug, all clean cashmere and taut muscularity. He’s so firm across the chest it’s like hugging Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. His face, too, is Disney-perfect, with high-coloured cheeks and eyes that actually twinkle. As we walk to our table through Shoreditch House everyone stops eating to eyeball him. Back to your lunch, guys, he’s with me.
‘This place is awesome!’ he says, looking out of the window innocently, affecting not to notice the attention. ‘We’re in London, so… I might get a pint.’ He was taught to say that by his former flatmate and Gossip Girl co-star, the English actor Ed Westwick, who also has him supporting Arsenal. ‘We’re going to a game on Saturday,’ he says. It’s nice to see their friendship hasn’t been affected by the rumours, spread by Perez Hilton in 2008, that they were a gay couple. Chace has since been linked with starlets including The Kills’ Alison Mosshart and Twilight’s Ashley Greene, though neither came to anything. ‘I’ve come close but I’ve not really gone the distance. I haven’t had a girlfriend for a while,’ he shrugs. ‘A girl who strikes a chord comes round once in a blue moon. I’m not the kind of guy to date a girl just for the sake of it. I don’t need a girlfriend.’
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