America Ferrera: Gossip Girl Makes Us 'Mean'

By Janet Mock

09/11/2008 at 02:10 PM EDT

America Ferrera says TV depicts female friendships in a skewed light.

"Like, if you're watching The Hills or 90210, all the backstabbing shapes the way we act," the Seventeen cover girl says in the magazine's October issue.

"I mean, I love Blake [Lively]; she's a wonderful friend of mine, but shows like Gossip Girl kind of condition us to be mean."

The Ugly Betty star, 24, says she has managed to keep her own friendships – especially with her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars – cat fight-free.

"One of the most wonderful experiences I've had with girl relationships was working with them [Lively, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn] on Sisterhood. I'd worked with other girls before and it was pretty catty," said Ferrera, who counts Tamblyn as "one of my closest friends."

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