Blake Lively in red for W magazine Dec. 2008

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Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively poses in bright red Norma Kamali bikini top on the cover of W magazine December 2008 issue. In her hands you can see American flag.

The actress was photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, styled by Alex White.

Blake Lively W Magazine december 2008

Blonde actress is promoting her two upcoming movies, Elvis and Annabelle and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee along with Gossip Girl, of cause.

…Lively has two indies in the can. There’s Elvis and Anabelle, in which she plays a bulimic Texas beauty queen alongside Max Minghella, Keith Carradine, Mary Steenburgen and Joe Mantegna. And in June she wrapped The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, written and directed by Rebecca Miller. Lively plays young Pippa—a drug user–turned–stay-at-home mom—while Robin Wright Penn tackles the middle-aged version opposite Alan Arkin, Julianne Moore and Winona Ryder. The movie will be showing on the festival circuit starting early next year.

Along with braving a hideous spray tan and scary pageant hair, Lively shed serious weight from her “five nine and three-quarters” frame for Elvis and Anabelle. “I play a beauty queen who died of bulimia,” she says. “But beauty queens are still very toned. So I lost weight, but I got toned. It was the healthiest I’ve ever been. I just made chicken breasts from Whole Foods on a George Foreman Grill, with asparagus and broccoli.” Not an easy task for someone who describes food as ‘the No. 1 love of my life.’”

On her supposed rivalry with Leighton:

I’ve never really had a competitive relationship in any work situation. The media is always trying to pit us against each other, I guess because it’s just not interesting to say, ‘Everyone gets along; everybody just works 18-hour days and goes home to sleep.’ That’s not fun to read, I guess.”

On how she began acting:

My mom and dad always taught acting, so instead of getting me babysitters, they would just bring me to class. And I’m a naturally shy person, so it really helped. I would’ve just been hiding under the table, pulling on my mother’s dress if I hadn’t been in their classes. It forced me out of my shell.”

On her career:

I’ve been learning as I’m going along. I thought, OK, I’ll try a movie. And I was loving films, so I thought, No, I don’t want to try TV. But now I’m loving being on the show more than I ever could have imagined. It has been just the most amazing experience anybody could ever ask for. It’s such a blessing.”

About TV:

The media is always trying to pit us against each other,” Blake says. “I guess because it’s just not interesting to say, ‘Everyone gets along, everybody just works 18-hour days and goes home to sleep.’ That’s not fun to read I guess.”