Quotes

[on being involved in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) spin-off] I didn't see myself continuing as Dawn because I like to have diversity in my roles. A lot of people are like, "Oh my God! Little Dawn grew up!" And as much as I love you guys, suck it up.

[on why she chose not to continue her role as Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] I felt like every year, my character got younger as I got older. The scripts even had me speaking grammatically incorrectly. So I had to do something else. Besides, the show is over. If you miss it, get the DVDs.

[on the future of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)] I'm sure that in some way, shape or form, "Buffy" will be continued or the story, through the fans, because we do have such devoted fans and that's always been very sweet.

My confidence comes from me, Michelle, as a person. I don't necessarily believe that I will act and be a lead forever, but I want to continue to act for a long time. I love to do what I do.

[what her dream job would be] A fashion editor at "Vogue", that would be awesome.

Anything you throw at me, I'll try to tackle.

I adore London and Paris, and I hope to live in London for a period of time when I'm older.

I love tennis. I tried gymnastics at one point, but my tush got a whole lot of black and blue so that wasn't fun.

[what she does to "instantly feel sexy"] Show off my décolletage.

[her favorite designers] I love Rag & Bone. They're pretty fantastic. Marc Jacobs has been a friend of mine for years, and I adore him. I like Chloe. I like a lot of younger designers.

[asked if she had any "red-carpet" regrets] I think I did a head-to-toe leopard ensemble once, when I was 10. I think animal print should be taken in moderation. A shoe or a scarf is fine.

[asked if it's easier to be unrecognized in New York City] I think it's much harder in New York. There are paparazzi on bicycles, which is a new thing. You can't really speed away in your car. Especially with Gossip Girl (2007) being such a New York-based show, it's harder. I tried my hand at going to Bed, Bath & Beyond the other day, which I love, and that was a little bit of a catastrophe. I caused a little bit of a scene. That would be the only time that I'm a little shy.

[her favorite places in New York city] I'm a downtown girl. I would love to give you restaurants, but then you'd know about them and we couldn't go there anymore. Leighton Meester and I like to go to hole-in-the-walls that no one would ever expect us to go to, and no one cares that we're in there. We do that often.

{asked if life is like Gossip Girl (2007)] I think life is like high school. I don't necessarily know that it pertains to "Gossip Girl" because that is obviously an extreme fabrication of the most glorious life. But I do think that life, in general, is definitely like high school and you never get out of it. You just have to stay strong.

[how to deal with embarrassment] . . . laughter is the best thing. It's not about seeking revenge on that person. It's not letting them get away with it and not letting them get their high off of seeing you miserable. Laugh with them.

[how she deals with stress] I'm the last person to ask about dealing with stress. I'm always the biggest stress ball. But I don't stop moving and I never let my Blackberry leave my hand, so I'm getting a lot of thumb exercise. It's great.

[sex] I guess I've just always had sex on the brain. A lot of people thought that I was having sex before I actually was, because of the way I held myself. I didn't lose my virginity until I was 18. It wasn't a crazy, massive thing.

[the differences between the character Dawn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) and the character Chloe on Mercy (2009) and on playing young and/or naive characters] I've been drinking from the fountain of youth, so my face remains the same. Actually, one of our very first days of shooting, Gail Berman, who I have known for almost 10 years now, from [Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)], said that if we put a split screen of my face from the first episode of "Buffy" up next to the "Mercy" pilot, it's the same. I might have just gotten paler. I don't go out in the sun . . . I think there's a huge difference between the two characters, in the sense that Chloe is an adult. She's not a child, by any means. She went through nursing school. She has her masters degree. She has all of the credentials. She is a nurse and an adult, in every sense of those words. For me, I'm not shy or quiet. It's interesting for me to play someone who is such the opposite from myself because it's more challenging to keep that realistic . . . I also think that so many young women in the world are scared of the circumstances that they're in and are very insecure about different experiences that they may have, and I love being that character for women to say, "Yes, Chloe is scared. She's worried that she is literally going to kill someone, but there's optimism there. She can do it. So, I don't think of her as a child, or as annoying or whiny. I think she's just open to the world and looking to her colleagues to steer her. She has such great respect and admiration because they know what they're doing. So, between the three of us and the different personalities that we have, we're going to cater to every single woman watching the show, or that's what we hope.

[Joss Whedon] There was a group of followers who really believed that Joss was God; they made hats about it and wanted me to wear [one]. They were like, "You work with God every day," and were absolutely set on him being actual God. He is a creative genius, but I'm pretty sure he's not actually G-O-D.

[on her character "Georgina Sparks" on Gossip Girl (2007)] It's super fun to play the bad girl. I love bringing out the inner nasty . . . Every woman secretly has an inner bitch deep down inside--including myself. But with the scenarios that Georgina is in and the lines from the script, the evil naturally comes out and flows really well for me . . . I don't take the nastiness off-set, but sometimes when the paparazzi get in my face, Georgina comes out.

[being told she has the face of a 12-year-old gymnast] For my dirty-old-man fan base.

[working with Joss Whedon] There was a group of followers who really believed that Joss was God; they made hats about it and wanted me to wear [one]. They were like, "You work with God every day," and were absolutely set on him being actual God. He is a creative genius, but I'm pretty sure he's not actually G-O-D.

[why she prefers older men] I'm not necessarily being ageist, but someone who is older has lived life more. Someone could surprise me, but I feel like there's a phase guys go through in their early twenties when they're supposed to hook up with a lot of chicks and break a lot of hearts. That's great, I'd just like to catch you after that. I'm not looking to settle down and make babies, I'm just not looking for the guy who's texting seven different girls like, "Let's screw here. Let's hook up later." I've always had at least a six- or seven-year age difference with boyfriends. And I guess I still have resentment towards all the boys in high school.

[on not being on social media] No Facebook. No...what's the Twit thing? I can't. There are tons of fake Facebook pages and it drives me apeshit. Some of these fake Twitters and Facebooks, they're like, "I'm so special! Look at my new movie! Don't you think I'm so pretty?" I never, ever talk like that.

[the male gaze as she grew up onscreen] I heard that there were "Trachtenberg to 18" counters." Even at the time, I was like, "You're never gonna get a chance! So what's your counter for?"

[would she work with Joss Whedon again] I think he's extraordinary; he definitely knows how to put women in a strong superhero-type role. If there was something that wasn't Buffy-related, it would definitely be interesting.

[on being bullied growing up.] Kids-boys and girls both-were very cruel to me, all throughout school, and particularly in high school, when girls were getting boobies and I didn't have any. I was a really late bloomer. I was tortured, made fun of ... When I was in elementary school, this one girl threw me down a flight of stairs, fractured my ribs, punched and fractured my nose, and told the principal I used the word "bitch" and got me [sent to] detention-the only time I've ever been thrown in detention in my life. When I was in junior high school, there was a whole gang of girls who would push me into lockers and steal my clothes after gym, so I wouldn't have anything to wear.

[getting flashed in Brooklyn] I was a kid, so I didn't get groped-that would be really creepy. But there were some men not fully dressed that I saw on the subway. My mom and I would pretend that we were crazy people-because a crazy person doesn't want to approach another crazy person.

[people wanting to see her naked onscreen] It's really creepy. When I was filming Beautiful Ohio and we were doing the scene with my naked tush, [that was] probably one of the most horrendous moments of my life. It would take an army-or Martin Scorsese-to ever get me naked again. I am very aware of screen caps. [Laughs]

[resenting being bullied as a teen] So yeah, I guess I harbor resentment towards kids from high school, but then I did this movie called EuroTrip, and you totally jacked off to it, so I'm good!