Gossip Girl Gossip of the Week: Leighton Meester Forced Nan Zhang Off the Show

Who knows if they’re true or not, but some of the rumors emerging from the Gossip Girl set sure make it sound a lot like high school.

The hit CW series about privileged private scholars has resumed shooting in New York, but one Gossip Girl cast member, Nan Zhang, who played sidekick Kati Farkas, is no longer with the show.

Series creator Josh Schwartz said about two weeks ago that Nan Zhang had enrolled at Brown University during the writers’ strike and simply “didn’t tell anyone on the show.”

But the New York Daily News reports that the real reason for her departure was a long-running feud with Leighton Meester.

“[Nan Zhang] was pushed off the show,” says a Gossip Girl spy. “Leighton Meester didn’t like her, and she went.”

Was Leighton Meester behind Nan Zhang vanishing from Gossip Girl?

The appearance of a new Asian actress on the set last week suggested that Zhang may have been replaced. But another insider says the Kati Farkas character has been written out altogether.

“Jenny [played by Taylor Momsen] has a new group of random bitchy girls as friends,” said the source, explaining why Kati’s close pal Isabel (played by Nicole Fiscella) remains in the picture.

Says the show’s rep: “I think [Zhang] may have had another opportunity come up, but I know she was big into school. She was really sweet, but she went back to school.”

Was there any tension with the Meester-meister?

“Absolutely not true,” said Leighton Meester’s rep.