BACKSTAGE BITE

‘Gossip Girl’ Star Hospitalized After a Venomous Spider Bite

Momsen is determined to continue performing despite the spreading infection.

Taylor Momsen’s tour just took a gruesome turn—thanks to a spider that won’t quit. The Gossip Girl alum, who played Jenny Humphrey before pivoting to front her band Pretty Reckless, revealed she was bitten by a spider in Mexico City, where the group is opening for AC/DC. “A massive spider decided to take a chunk out of me,” Momsen, 32, wrote on Instagram, adding that she was treated by doctors and still performed last week. But the bite quickly spiraled. In a follow-up post on Tuesday, Momsen showed a deep red rash spreading across her shin and warned followers she was headed back to the hospital. “Hospital today, show tomorrow, poisonous spiders are NO BUENO,” she wrote, insisting “the show must go on.” By Wednesday, things looked even worse. The spreading bite now covered most of her shin, with doctors outlining the infection in marker as she was wheeled through a hospital. Her caption kept it blunt: “Or I just spend the night in the hospital.” She closed her post, which featured her song “Bedroom Window,” with a thank-you to her doctors for the treatment.