Penn Badgley opens up about dating Blake Lively amid her legal battle

Penn Badgley, known for his role as Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl, recently spoke about the difficulties of dating his co-star, Blake Lively, between 2007 and 2010. 

On the Call Her Daddy podcast, the 38-year-old actor described it as "the struggle," explaining that the long-term nature of their roles in the CW soap, combined with fame, created a situation where there wasn't enough separation between their real lives and their characters. 

Badgley felt that people's perception of his character, Brooklyn scholarship student Dan Humphrey, mirrored their perception of him. 

According to Daily Mail, he also admitted to lacking the "emotional maturity to understand how to differentiate" himself from his character regarding "self-worth".

Furthermore, Badgley confessed to being "starved for many kinds of intimacy" due to his parents' divorce and "really longed for that kind of connection" with Lively, who played socialite Serena van der Woodsen.

Interestingly, Lively initially had a negative impression of Badgley, admitting in 2009 that she "poisoned the whole cast against him" before realizing he was "a nice, charming person", as per the publication. 

In other news, Blake Lively is currently involved in a legal battle with her It Ends With Us director and co-star, Justin Baldoni, a close friend of Badgley who shares his Baha'i faith and has been a guest on Badgley's Podcrushed podcast. 

As per the outlet, their sexual harassment and defamation trial is scheduled for March 2026 in Manhattan. Public opinion reportedly favors Baldoni. 

Meanwhile, Badgley is married to Domino Kirke and expecting twins this summer, including their four-year-old son James and Kirke's 16-year-old son Cassius O'Kane. 

Badgley is also preparing for the final season of his Netflix series You, premiering this Thursday. He previously dated Zoë Kravitz and met his wife in 2014, describing their connection as "immediate".