Blake Lively's busy acting career cost her the chance to take part in her high school graduation ceremony because teachers ruled she didn't attend enough classes to join her schoolmates in their caps and gowns.

The former Gossip Girl star was just 17 years old when she booked her first feature film role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a movie she shot while still attending school in Burbank, California, and, due to the fact she was off filming, she accrued more absences than usually allowed, prompting administrators to prevent her from accepting a diploma at graduation.

Lively made the big reveal while speaking to current students about her own high school experiences during an event hosted by America's First Lady Michelle Obama on Friday (08Nov13).

She said, "They didn't let me do that (walk at graduation), because they wanted to shut me down."

Lively, who also served as class president, also confessed that initially she had no interest in following in the footsteps of her family members, who work in the entertainment industry, but set her sights set on an Ivy League education - a feat she still wishes she could achieve to this day.

She said, "Acting was the only thing I knew I didn't want to do. I wanted to get a great education... If I could, I would go back and I would go to college."