William "Tripp" van der Bilt III is a recurring character on the American drama series, Gossip Girl, portrayed by Aaron Tveit. Being the elder cousin of Nate Archibald, Tripp serves as a rival for Nate later on as they compete for the affections of their grandfather, William.
Television series[]
Background[]
William "Tripp" van der Bilt III is the grandson of William van der Bilt, who is a very "political minded" man, and Nate Archibald's older first cousin. Throughout the series, Tripp competes with Nate for the affections of their grandfather.
In the episode The Debarted, Serena and Tripp escape to upstate New York to spend the weekend in one of the Vanderbilt cabins. While Tripp went into town to get some food, Maureen unwittingly walks in and threatens Serena. Having enough of their relationship, Serena ends it and Tripp offers to drive her home. However, he crashes and abandons the car, asking help from Maureen to frame Serena for it instead.
As he arrived to the hospital after Nate calls him, he gets punched in the face and gets threatened by Nate to stay away from Serena or he would go to the press with the information he had to take his political standing.
season 5[]
It's revealed that Tripp was behind the limo crash that Chuck and Blair were in, which caused Blair to miscarry. The motive behind it was that he was trying to get Serena and Nate, but unknowingly didn't realize that Blair and Chuck took their limo as he reveals that Maureen has decided to file for divorce from him after learning about the constant cheating he has done. With the threat of police looming over him by Nate, he withdraws his position from the political circuit and decides to later turn himself into the police.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- William van der Bilt II (father)
- Unnamed woman (mother)
- William van der Bilt I (paternal grandfather)
- Anne Archibald (paternal aunt)
- Howard Archibald (paternal uncle, via Anne)
- Nate Archibald (first cousin)
Romances[]
- Maureen van der Bilt (wife; she has filed for divorce)
- Serena van der Woodsen (affair, Gossip Girl Season 3)
