Leighton Meester doesn’t always want to be happy

She said: "I think that the importance of love is really strong for me in my life, whether it's a guy or a friend or just my puppy. I think love changes you over time, and whether you have good or bad experiences, you always grow and learn from it.

"I think you have to know how you feel when you're sad and it's healthy to mourn if a relationship ends. You should go through a period where you experience that feeling instead of fighting against it all the time and saying 'No I want to be happy' because that's not healthy. As much as I don't want sad or bad things to happen to me, it's given me a lot of material for my work, so it's good."

Leighton is now planning to turn her attentions to music and admits her previous relationship struggles are a huge inspiration to her when it comes to writing songs.

The ‘Country Strong’ actress explained in the February edition of Seventeen magazine: "I'm working with a band right now, doing a lot of acoustic music through singing and writing. It's really fun and fulfilling. It's an expression of what I have in my life and what I'm going through, or what I have gone through, and of course, it's mostly about love or relationships. The ups and downs that come along, which I think are universal."