Leighton Meester [1] has a surprisingly simple reason for why she doesn't talk about her 19-month-old daughter, Arlo Day [2]. "I don't talk about Arlo very much. I am very proud of that area of my life. But I'm also really proud of the show, and of the work I do," the 30-year-old actress revealed during a recent interview [3] with Refinery29. "I think the perception is: You're an ingenue, or you're an icon, or you're a mom. There's no in between."
Meester also expressed her frustration with the notion that women can only be wives and mothers. "The excitement for a lot of people is: Man and woman meet, get married, then have a baby. But in the meantime, there's so much more to women," she declared. Although she rarely shares any photos of her daughter, Meester has posted countless adorable photos with her husband [5], actor Adam Brody [6], throughout the years.