No. Leighton Meester has said she was born in a hospital, not in prison. Her mother was serving time when she was born, which appears to be the source of the confusion.
What Leighton Meester said about where she was born
In a 2009 interview with Cosmopolitan, the question was put directly: Was she born in a jail cell? The account answered no, saying her mother gave birth in a hospital. Meester’s clarification was also reported in 2012 by Marie Claire and CBS News.
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The published accounts do not name the hospital or cite an official birth record. The answer is therefore best described as Meester’s reported account, rather than as a conclusion based on independently reviewed records.
Why the prison-birth story circulated
Meester’s mother was serving time when Meester was born. That fact was repeatedly compressed into the more dramatic claim that Meester herself was born in jail. In September 2008, TV Guide reported the prison-birth version and attributed it to Us Weekly. A day later, Fox News ran a headline saying she was born in jail.
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Those 2008 reports document how the claim spread; they do not establish the birth location independently. Meester’s later interview clarifications directly distinguish the two facts: her mother was incarcerated, but the birth took place in a hospital.
Where Meester lived as an infant
According to the 2012 accounts in Marie Claire and CBS News, Meester spent three months in a halfway house and then lived with her grandmother until her mother was released. These details describe her early living arrangements, not the location of her birth.
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The short answer
Meester was not born in prison, according to her published clarifications: she says she was born in a hospital. The enduring claim conflates that account with the fact that her mother was serving time at the time.
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