‘Shocked’: Leighton Meester reveals what she thinks of Rugby League

Leighton Meester attended a Rugby League match during her stint in Australia, and now, she’s revealed what she really thought of our beloved game.

Rugby League season in Australia is about to roll around for 2025, and Leighton Meester is probably relieved she likely never has to watch it again.

The US actress, 38, spent three-and-a-half months living on the Gold Coast, Queensland from April last year, where she shot the Stan and The CW series Good Cop/Bad Cop.

Notoriously private alongside her husband, fellow actor Adam Brody, the Hollywood couple were hardly spotted during their lengthy stint here, with Meester giving rare insight into their stay in an interview with news.com.au in May last year.

Having just attended an NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and the North Queensland Cowboys at Robina, Meester told us she went into the match completely blind, assuming it would be like soccer.

What she actually witnessed “shocked” her.

“I was shocked that they don’t wear any padding,” the actress said.

“It’s still dangerous to do with the padding …

“I saw somebody on TV, I was at a dinner with the cast, and I looked behind me and there’s rugby on TV. And there was a man on the TV who had just, I guess been tackled? And he was bleeding from his face and missing a tooth. Freshly missing a tooth. And he was smiling, and I was like? I’d be crying.”

Leighton Meester attended a Gold Coast Titans game in May last year. Picture: Instagram

Meester, along with her co-stars, Aussie actor Luke Cook and US actor Clancy Brown, were honoured with delivering the kick-off ball during the aforementioned Titans game, and days later, she still wasn’t quite sure what she’d just watched.

“I misunderstood, I was like, ‘Wait, what is this [ball]?’ And they were like, ‘So basically it’s a ball. It’s looks like a football, not a football.’ And then, they run it down and try to get a goal …” Meester attempted to explain.

“My brain is American. It’s very small. It’s very closed off. There’s nothing really there.

“So all I can do is [try to] understand. I have a very, very fragile grasp on [football] anyway, but it was really, really fun. I enjoyed it a lot.

“And I brought the ball out on the field, so that was cool … It’s called a ball, right?”

Her trip to Australia marked Meester’s first ever time here, with the star travelling alongside Brody and their two young children.

She described the Gold Coast as a “wonderful place” where she felt completely “at home”.

“Not going to lie, Australia was a draw,” Meester said. “I was saying to somebody over the phone, probably back in February, I was saying very hypothetically, ‘Oh, I could get a call tomorrow that I’ve got a show in Australia.’

“Literally the next day I found out about this job and was like, ‘Wait, what?’ I feel like a magical psychic or something, but really it was just me wishful thinking.

“But it happened. Of all places in the world, this is such a nice place to be.”

Leighton Meester and Adam Brody lived on the Gold Coast for almost four months. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Meester plays detective Lou Hickman in the upcoming crime comedy, in which she stars opposite Cook as her brother Henry, also a cop.

Set in the fictional US town of Eden Vale, the show follows the often at-odds brother-sister duo as they contend with the town’s oddball residents, a lack of resources at their tiny department, as well as their complicated dynamic with one another and their police chief Big Hank (Brown), who also happens to be their father.

“When I read this script, I was so entertained. Every line I was excited to say. I thought, ‘I really wanted to do my best at playing this character,’” Meester said.

“If you’re doing three, four months of a show over eight episodes, it’s a long time. So being able to really explore a character for what’s essentially like an eight hour movie, I really wanted to have a lot to play with.”

She continued, explaining the key factor that saw her sign on to star, “The other part of it, that is huge, is just the people involved. I worked with [producer] Trent O’Donnell on my last show, and just really like him as a person and think he has a wonderful taste. And then [writer and show developer] John (Quaintance), who I’d never worked with before, but when I met him – he spoke to me so much about the creative process and literally every other aspect of it – but the thing that we talked most about was his intention for what the set is like and how he only wants to surround himself with people who are excited and kind and doing the work because they love it.

“I just really enjoy repeating work with people, and also, just being with people who are really excited and happy to do their job, and who are just nice … It’s kind of everything.”

The Stan Original Series Good Cop/Bad Cop will premiere February 20 on Stan.

It would be remiss not to talk to Meester about The CW’s Gossip Girl, in which she played the iconic character Blair Waldorf for the show’s entire run from 2009 until 2012.

Also credited to kickstarting the careers of her co-stars Blake Lively and Penn Badgley, Meester said it “meant so much” the frothy teen drama still holds a special place among new and old fans alike.

Meester and Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively.

“I was 20, and I’m 38 now, so it was 18 years ago, and yet still, it remains very fresh for people, people re-watch it, and it means a lot to people, and I love that,” she said.

“The people who are fans of the show, or even just of mine, it’s always the nicest people. The people that I interact with or who I meet in any place, even just on the street, are just always the nicest people.

“That core fan base means so much to me.”

Good Cop/Bad Cop will premiere February 20 on Stan.

*This interview was conducted prior to the LA fires, in which Meester and Brody lost their home

Originally published as ‘Shocked’: Leighton Meester reveals what she thinks of Rugby League