Blake Lively reveals the big lie she used to tell on the red carpet

Before she was a megastar, a young Blake Lively used to tell this porky pie to reporters on red carpets.

Blake Lively has become a fashion icon, but it wasn’t always that way.

In fact, when she first started out, the actress, 31, often wore clothes from US-based fast fashion chain Forever 21 on the red carpet — but was too embarrassed to admit it.

“I wore Forever 21 much longer than I admitted. I just started saying it was vintage because I was so shamed for it,” Lively told The Handmaid’s Tale actress Sydney Sweeney in an interview for InStyle.

Lively in 2007. Picture: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images

“For me, fashion is a form of self-expression. It also really takes me out of my comfort zone. One of the reasons I’m an actor is that I’m naturally very shy, so it’s liberating to dress up and pretend to be someone else.”

She’s coming a long way: Lively at the Met Gala in 2018. Picture: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

The former Gossip Girl star also explained why she famously does not use a stylist and often adopts thematic dressing — such as the A Simple Favor-inspired pants suit-only period — while promoting films.

“The only way that I feel comfortable doing red carpets and interviews is when I adopt the same thing that I do when I’m acting, which is to play a character,” Lively said.

“So when I’m going to a premiere, I think, who is that character? And I step into that. I still get knots in my stomach before red carpets. You just want to represent yourself properly, so that’s why I chose to style myself.”

Clearly, she doesn’t need any help now that she has access to real vintage and designer clothes.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is republished here with permission