Taylor Momsen is feeling extra nostalgic this holiday season — and fans are loving every second of it.
The 32-year-old musician and former actress took to social media to share a full-circle moment more than 25 years in the making: trying on her original Cindy Lou Who costume from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Momsen famously played the sweet Whoville resident at just six years old in the 2000 holiday classic opposite Jim Carrey, and surprisingly, the dress still mostly fits.
“Yes…that is my real Cindy costume from the Grinch movie 🥰 25 years later…it still (kind of) fits 🤣 what a surreal holiday season,” she captioned a video of herself slipping into the iconic look.
The post comes amid a season of reflection for Momsen, who has been increasingly open about her complicated relationship with the film that made her a household name. While the movie remains a beloved holiday staple, Momsen has admitted it wasn’t always easy growing up with such a recognizable role attached to her identity.
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“I spent a long time, I don’t want to say resenting Grinch because that’s too harsh,” she said on The Zach Sang Show. “I had a really, really great time making that film and I have no bad memories of it whatsoever. But it was something that came around every year that I’d roll my eyes at.”
As a child, being labeled “the Grinch girl” felt overwhelming — but perspective changed with time. After going through what she described as a “very hard period” in her life filled with “a lot of loss and a lot of grief and a lot of depression,” Momsen began looking back at her past with new eyes. Revisiting earlier chapters helped her reconnect with parts of herself she once pushed away, including Cindy Lou Who.
That process also led to another meaningful milestone: re-recording “Where Are You Christmas?” — the song she originally performed in the film — with her band, The Pretty Reckless. For years, fans begged for a rock version, something Momsen resisted.
“And so every year, fans would beg for a rock version of ‘Where Are You Christmas?.’ And for 15 years, or whatever it was, I would hear all this and go, ‘This is never going to happen. In no world am I doing this,’” she told Kerrang!.
That changed during the COVID-19 lockdown, when music became a lifeline for the band. Recording the song unexpectedly turned into something special.
“By the end of the song, four very, very miserable people had giant grins on our faces – stupid grins – and we were laughing and having a great time. We all turned to each other and went, ‘I think that might have been magic’,” Momsen recalled.
Now, she sees the song — and the movie — as part of her larger story. “I wanted to add things from now, to give it context as to who I am as a person, and tell the story,” she said. “It was interesting reflecting on my life and realizing all this. It was good to spend time with this and kind of come to terms with a lot of things that I’d shunned from my past.”
