Leighton Meester on Love, Breaking Up and Why She Doesn't Party

By Tracey Harrington McCoy Posted Dec 28th 2010 10:10PM

'Gossip Girl' star Leighton Meester heats up the cover of Seventeen for its February issue--and in the accompanying interview she opens up about love, past relationships, filming 'Country Strong' with Gwyneth Paltrow and why she's not really into partying.

"I think that the importance of love is really strong for me in my life, whether it's a guy or a friend or just my puppy," the actress revealed (via PEOPLE.) "I think love changes you over time, and whether you have good or bad experiences, you always grow and learn from it."

More excerpts from the Seventeen interview after the jump.

On the party scene:
"I'm not really a partier, in general. I've definitely learned that that's probably the least interesting thing you can do with your time."

On mourning a breakup:
"I think you have to know how you feel when you're sad and it's healthy to mourn if a relationship ends. You should go through a period where you experience that feeling instead of fighting against it all the time and saying 'No I want to be happy' because that's not healthy. As much as I don't want sad or bad things to happen to me, it's given me a lot of material for my work, so it's good."

On her music:
"I'm working with a band right now, doing a lot of acoustic music through singing and writing. It's really fun and fulfilling. It's an expression of what I have in my life and what I'm going through, or what I have gone through, and of course, it's mostly about love or relationships. The ups and downs that come along, which I think are universal."

On filming 'Country Strong':
"It was very inspiring being around all these people who make really good music and write amazing songs that tell stories. There's a lot of really talented people in Nashville and the music they make has been around forever. They are real musicians, it's not just a computer."