Photo: Dan Jackman/WENN 

It has been over three years since the last new episode of “Gossip Girl” but it is still just as relevant today as it was all those years ago.

No one knows this better than Jessica Szohr, who played Vanessa Abrams on the teen series. Now 30 years old, the actress has moved onto another television drama, “Kingdom,” and is showing fans a whole new side of herself. Playing Laura Melvin on the gritty DirecTV original series, Szohr was happy to return to Los Angeles and sleep in her own bed while filming, something she has not done since before GG.

“I learned a lot, I had fun. It was a certain time in my life being able to live in that city, and work on a show with incredible people and learn about fashion. It was such an amazing time in my life,” Szohr told StyleBlazer exclusively. “I have a 13-year-old sister, and at the time she was too young to watch [Gossip Girl], but now all her friends are getting into it. I think it’s neat.”

Photo: CW/WENN 

However, taking some the spotlight from her new role is a photo Szohr posted to her Instagram on her way back to her apartment from watching a football game. What she thought was an innocent statement about beauty standards turned into a debate about natural hair, and Szohr, who is bi-racial, was at the center of the very sensitive topic.

“I’m mixed, I wear extensions. I wasn’t talking to one person or one race,” Szohr said. “In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have posted it, but even in what I said it wasn’t like I was saying don’t use extensions or weaves.”

From turning 30 in Hollywood to what to expect from her role, check out the interview below for more from our exclusive interview with Jessica Szohr: 

On her new role in “Kingdom”: “I remember watching the first few episodes of the first season and thinking, ‘Why aren’t people talking about this show?’ [Laura] is not as artsy and opinionated as Vanessa as, and she is not as shut off and hardcore as Gretchen from ‘Complications’ but you see a little bit of both. The cool thing about ‘Kingdom’ is it’s a gritty, raw, very real show.”

On the downside of social side: “With social media, and with things like that, things can be taken so out of context you do have to be careful. It was never my intention to offend anyone or tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do because that wouldn’t be fair or right. I’m totally not that type of person. You have to take anything that people say with a grain of salt.”

#weavefree #exceptwhenimweaving

A photo posted by Jessica Szohr (@itsmejessicaszohr) on Oct 18, 2015 at 4:55pm PDT

On turning 30 in Hollywood: “I turned 30, I learned a lot from my 20s but I definitely see a shift. I do get some calls or read for ‘college student’ but then I’ve also gotten early, mid-thirties with a couple of kids. I’m looking forward to my 30s, but there was also a sense, ‘oh my gosh, my twenties flew by,’ and my experience in my 20s, five of the years I was working on a dream job, meeting some of the best friends that I’ll have forever to living in one of the coolest cities and traveling. That was a whirlwind in itself, but also learning about yourself and getting older… I’m ready for my thirties but ‘wow,’ when I look back.”

On missing the fashion from “Gossip Girl”: “Yeah, the fittings and all we got to do there was always super fun. For all of us girls on the show, I think it really changed us in the fashion world. Speaking for myself, I wasn’t aware of so many designers, how fashion week worked and all that kind of stuff. I learned a lot from the show.”

The post SB Exclusive: Jessica Szohr On Turning 30 & The Downside Of Instagram appeared first on StyleBlazer.