Penn Badgley has opened up on his past relationship with Blake Lively, admitting she “saved” him from experimenting with drink and drugs.
You star Penn met Blake on the set of Gossip Girl in 2007, where the pair starred as Serena Van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey. The show ran for six seasons, with Penn and Blake hooking up off screen for three years until 2010.
Blake, 36, famously went on to marry Deadpool star, Ryan Reynolds – with whom she shares four children, whilst Penn tied the knot with London-born musician, Domino Kirke in 2017. But things could have become very different for Penn if he hadn’t dated Blake while filming Gossip Girl in ’07.
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Speaking about getting to grips with becoming a household name in his early twenties, Penn admitted there was a “dark undercurrent” to his time on the show. He denied that darkness was related to substance abuse, however.
(Image: WireImage)
“To be honest, I never struggled with substances,” he told Variety, adding that his ex had been a positive influence on him. “Blake didn’t drink, and I think our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road.”
However, he admitted some aspects of fame and fortune did have a bearing on his state of mind. “Like anybody who experiences some degree of fame and wealth, I was presented with the universal truth that not only does it not make your life better or easier, it actually can greatly complicate things, and make you quite unhappy,” he explained.
(Image: WireImage)
Dad-of-one Penn also confessed he’s requested fewer “intimate scenes” as he gets older. In the latest series of You, his protagonist Joe Goldberg character gets together with Kate Galvin-Lockwood after he brutally murdered his wife, Love Quinn.
Penn explained: “That aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me. And that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary – has always been something that I actually don’t want to play with at all.”
(Image: Getty Images)
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Penn, meanwhile, confessed in 2021 that he cannot comprehend the obsession with his serial killer character. At the time of the show’s 2018 inception many viewers seemed unphased by Joe’s actions – and in fact, many fans became attracted to him – something the actor clearly did not support.
After viewers praised him online, Penn kindly reminded his followers that he was playing a murderer – but it didn’t stop many some bizarrely claiming they “wouldn’t mind” if he killed them – which Penn later called them out on. He also admitted: “There’s a lot I don’t enjoy about him [Joe]. To be honest, I don’t enjoy nearly everything about him.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
