Gossip Girl Blake Lively Covers Marie Claire

Of all the things one might have expected Blake Lively to do after playing New York City's hottest rich teenager on Gossip Girl, "make philanthropy cool" wouldn't exactly be high on the list. Marry the Green Lantern (aka Ryan Reynolds) in a top-secret ceremony outside Charleston, South Carolina, complete with a couture Marchesa ballgown and a glitter-dipped bouquet? Sure. Take time off to buy and decorate a country house in Bedford, New York? Absolutely. Make a movie about a chic woman who never grows old (The Age of Adaline, due out in 2015)? You bet. But running off to one of the seedier parts of Boston to make a documentary with Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn about teen sex trafficking? Or signing up as the face of Gucci's Première fragrance because she likes the house's philanthropy as much as its fashion? Or launching a lifestyle website that's as focused on charity as it is on e-commerce? Not so much. Lively herself, however, isn't surprised at all. "I always knew I would do something like this," she says.

On her relationship with Ryan Reynolds: "We've never gone a week without seeing each other. There's no major decision that I make without him. The best part is when we turn off our phones and just talk and hang out. He's my best, best friend. What do you do with your best friend? You do nothing."

On her past claims of wanting 30 kids of her own: "I gotta get started. If I could spit out a litter of kids, I would."

On her new venture, Preserve, an immerse lifestyle e-commerce website: "I went straight from high school to Gossip Girl, and both were very structured, scheduled environments, so I never had freedom to explore and carve my own path. When I finished my show, I wanted to take a break from acting and try what I would have tried if I hadn't acted, and that was this."

On her involvement in the PBS documentary miniseries A Path Appears: "I don't pretend to speak for anyone, but my feeling is that the general consensus in the United States is that [sex trafficking] is elective here--that when women are prostituting themselves, it's their choice. But what you realize when you start talking to these young women is that they're in emotional chains."

On Reynolds' favorite meal: "Honestly, all he wants to eat is hot-fudge sundaes."