Courtesy of Cosmo Girl

Call it a case of life imitating art. After Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively signed on to play the most popular girl in school, Serena van der Woodsen, she quickly became the “it” girl of Hollywood, as well.

Case in point: The 20-year-old Tarzana, California, native graces the November cover of CosmoGIRL!.

Lively reveals what it’s really like to become an overnight star, her celeb crushes, and why the Britneys and the Lindsays of Hollywood deserve a break.

On fame:
"It is a crazy and completely insane business. I'll go to an event wearing some designer gown and tens of thousands of dollars in jewels that were lent to me for the night, and I'll walk around and meet people who I always thought were such a big deal...Stars really are like anyone else. At the end of the day, Brad Pitt poops -- as handsome as he may be--and so does Angelina Jolie. I'm still baffled by how odd this job is."

On Hollywood's "bad girls":
"I think some people who bash on the girls in Hollywood who are struggling with addiction or going into rehab aren't being totally fair; it's not solely their fault. When you don't have someone to model yourself after, you're going to make mistakes. There's no one there to tell them what's right or wrong or who is a positive example."

On her celebrity childhood crushes:
"As a kid, I had a huge crush on Leonardo DiCaprio and, oh my gosh, Justin Timberlake. They were the two I can really think of just being completely in love with."

The issue is on newsstands now.

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