The discovery of the real Charlie Rhodes is a Gossip Girl revelation that has stuck with fans for years.
Airing on The CW from 2007 to 2012 (and now streaming on Netflix), Gossip Girl would become known for its shocking twists. The New York-based series featured moments of jaw-dropping betrayals, criminal proceedings, and even — at times — death and resurrection.
One of the hit drama's most mind-blowing moments occurred in Season 5, as the character Charlie Rhodes was revealed to have been a whole different person.
Who Is the Real Charlie Rhodes In Gossip Girl?
As Gossip Girl starts streaming on Netflix, fans are once again wondering what happened with the show's now-infamous real Charlie Rhodes twist.
Charlie was first introduced in Season 4 (played by Kaylee DeFer) as the daughter of the prestigious Rhodes family. However, it does not take long for things to turn on their head, as Charlie is revealed to be not exactly who she says she is.
After several appearances in Season 4, Season 5 pulls the curtain back on a much more sinister plot involving the character.
It turns out, that the Charlie introduced in Season 4 is not the real Charlie Rhodes. She was actually a girl named Ivy Dickens who had been hired by Carol Rhodes in an attempt to access Charlie's trust fund.
The real Charlie arrives on the scene in Season 5 (played by Ella Rae Peck), as she bumps into Ivy on a chance meeting.
Talking to Ivy (who is still impersonating Charlie), the real Charlie (who goes by Lola) begins to pull the layers back on the conspiracy that seems to be afoot. Ivy had come from a low-income New York family who was paid by Carol to impersonate her daughter as a way to access the teen's trust fund.
Over the next few episodes, Lola uses this knowledge to expose the plan involving Ivy, which eventually leads to Carol's arrest.
Following the death of her mother, CeCe, Carol is forced to sign over the trust fund total back to Lola, before she is taken off to jail and not heard from again in the series.
Lola (aka the real Charlie Rhodes) appears in several more episodes across the series before she disappears from the scene heading into Season 6, for the character to pursue acting in Los Angeles.
She does make one final appearance in the series' final episode, as the identity of Gossip Girl is revealed, cutting to her reading the news and letting out a shocked, "What..seriously?"
Gossip Girl is now streaming on Netflix.
