I’m about halfway through watching “Gossip Girl” for the fourth time now because just like many girls my age, I can’t resist the dramatic yet ever so fabulous lives of our favorite Upper East Siders. Also, to no surprise, I have been a huge fan of the epic love story of Chuck and Blair since day one.

Each time I watch the show I find myself becoming overly invested in each minute detail of their relationship. And each time I find myself rooting and rooting…and rooting for Chuck to say those three little words.

But the fourth time around I found myself mouthing three different words throughout the series.

Chuck. Is. Toxic.

Yes, it is true. This couple that we have all put on a pedestal for years needs not be praised but critiqued for what it really is-- an abusive, toxic, manipulative relationship.

I know this seems harsh or a bit ridiculous, but let me review the actions of one Charles Bass throughout the lifetime of the show.

The series begins with the portrayal of Chuck Bass being a “lady’s man”. I am all for sexual liberation, but there is a stark difference between being a womanizer and blatantly ignoring consent. Somehow, the show managed to majorly blur the lines between these two very different objectives.

Chuck not only forces himself upon the young and naïve Jenny Humphrey, but also his alleged close friend Serena van der Woodsen. These actions do not reflect a player, but a man that does not know or care to know the meaning of no.

But onto the main objective-- Chuck and Blair.

Did we forget that C and B had plans to vacation in Tuscany for the summer, but Chuck left her waiting at the helipad? Or that once Chuck realized that Blair has met somebody new he sabotages her relationship? And what about the fact that after the sudden death of Bart Bass, Blair is the only person that truly tries to comfort him, but Chuck flees town without giving her any explanation?

Oh, but he truly loves her we say. He even says so during the second season. True, but then he proceeds to trade Blair, as a sexual object, to his uncle Jack for the rights to the Empire. Sure, he then proposes to B, but that's only after sleeping with Little J as a stab at Blair.

I think the real moment of revelation is when Blair tells Chuck that Louis has proposed to her and she plans to say yes. Chuck then reacts how any rational person would, by punching a window that shatters and cuts Blair’s cheek. This is for sure a relationship we should idolize.

Perhaps, in the end, Chuck did become a better person. Even if that is the case, we cannot ignore that he is the one that paid the dowry so that Blair could escape her marriage with Louis. This is not noble, this is ownership. Maybe their relationship does become healthier, but only after he has paid the rights to her.

Yes, Chuck Bass’s dark and twisted ways most likely stem from his less than typical life. Yes, he finds the light through Blair Waldorf. Yes, people do change. But no, in any way, is this a relationship to which anybody should aspire. I am not blaming the man. I am questioning the type of happiness even the "best" women of the world are deemed worthy of.

Why is it that Blair only finds happiness when in conjunction with a man? We watch Blair fight to find herself, to find success of her own, but somehow we overlook that her full potential is never met because she finds loves in the end.

For six years we watched Blair give her everything to a man who would never do the same. We felt her pain as Chuck never reciprocated the love that she so desperately needed. The years since then we have watched and re-watched this love story dozens of times without acknowledging the severe toxicity we’re ingesting.

This just in. One Bass was seen acting a little fishy. Could it be that the relationship we’ve loved so desperately has fallen short of perfection? Sources say that C and B’s relationship is so toxic that even Britney herself won’t lay a hand on it. It appears to me that the Queen herself has stopped Seeking Happiness.

xo xo, THE REAL WORLD