Penn Badgley famously dated his Gossip Girl leading lady Blake Lively between 2007-2010 while starring on The CW soap, which wound up blurring the lines between fiction and reality for him.

‘It was the struggle,’ the 38-year-old Independent Spirit Award winner confessed on Call Her Daddy Wednesday.

‘What starts to happen when you’re in this one role for a long time — the aspect of celebrity being a part of it, a huge part of it — there is not enough separation, I think, for anybody.

‘You’re seen as this person, you’re called their name out on the street. You also constantly have to be that person at work.’

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s critically-acclaimed adaptation of Cecily von Ziegesar’s novel series about wealthy Manhattan teenagers aired for six seasons spanning 2007-2012.

The series was followed by a standalone sequel, also titled Gossip Girl, which aired for two seasons between 2021 and 2023 on Max.

Penn Badgley famously dated his Gossip Girl leading lady Blake Lively between 2007-2010 while starring on The CW soap, which wound up blurring the lines between fiction and reality for him (pictured in 2008)
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Penn Badgley famously dated his Gossip Girl leading lady Blake Lively between 2007-2010 while starring on The CW soap, which wound up blurring the lines between fiction and reality for him (pictured in 2008)

The 38-year-old Independent Spirit Award winner confessed on Call Her Daddy Wednesday: 'It was the struggle'
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The 38-year-old Independent Spirit Award winner confessed on Call Her Daddy Wednesday: ‘It was the struggle’

Penn admitted he didn’t possess the ’emotional maturity to understand how to differentiate’ himself from his character – Brooklyn scholarship student Dan Humphrey – ‘in terms of self-worth.’

‘What people seemed to think of Dan seemed to be what people thought of me,’ Baltimore-born Badgley noted.

The Ariana Grande video star was ‘starved for many kinds of intimacy’ due to his parents divorcing and ‘really longed for that kind of connection’ with the troubled 37-year-old, who played socialite Serena van der Woodsen.

Back in 2009, Blake confessed to Glamour of Penn: ‘At first I was so upset that they hired him. I actually poisoned the whole cast against him. But then they noticed that he wasn’t a jerk and was actually a really nice, charming person. Almost immediately I realized that too, but it took me about a week to admit it.’

Lively (born Brown) is currently embroiled in a legal war against her It Ends With Us director-leading man Justin Baldoni, who happens to be close friends with Badgley.

The You producer-star has even invited the 41-year-old filmmaker – who shares his Baha’i faith – to be a guest on his Podcrushed podcast in 2022 and 2023.

Blake and Justin are scheduled to face off in Manhattan US District Court for a sexual harassment and defamation trial beginning March 2026, but the general public have already sided with Baldoni.

Meanwhile, Penn and his wife of eight years – Domino Kirke – are set to welcome twin siblings this summer for their four-year-old son James.

Badgley is also stepfather to the 41-year-old singer’s 16-year-old son Cassius O’Kane from her relationship with musician Morgan O’Kane.

Penn continued: 'What starts to happen when you're in this one role for a long time ¿ the aspect of celebrity being a part of it, a huge part of it ¿ there is not enough separation, I think, for anybody'
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Penn continued: ‘What starts to happen when you’re in this one role for a long time — the aspect of celebrity being a part of it, a huge part of it — there is not enough separation, I think, for anybody’

Baltimore-born Badgley admitted he didn't possess the 'emotional maturity to understand how to differentiate' himself from his character - Brooklyn scholarship student Dan Humphrey - 'in terms of self-worth'
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Baltimore-born Badgley admitted he didn’t possess the ’emotional maturity to understand how to differentiate’ himself from his character – Brooklyn scholarship student Dan Humphrey – ‘in terms of self-worth’

The Ariana Grande video star was 'starved for many kinds of intimacy' due to his parents divorcing and 'really longed for that kind of connection' with the troubled 37-year-old, who played socialite Serena van der Woodsen
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The Ariana Grande video star was ‘starved for many kinds of intimacy’ due to his parents divorcing and ‘really longed for that kind of connection’ with the troubled 37-year-old, who played socialite Serena van der Woodsen

Back in 2009, Blake confessed to Glamour of Penn: 'At first I was so upset that they hired him. I actually poisoned the whole cast against him. But then they noticed that he wasn't a jerk and was actually a really nice, charming person. Almost immediately I realized that too, but it took me about a week to admit it'
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Back in 2009, Blake confessed to Glamour of Penn: ‘At first I was so upset that they hired him. I actually poisoned the whole cast against him. But then they noticed that he wasn’t a jerk and was actually a really nice, charming person. Almost immediately I realized that too, but it took me about a week to admit it’

Lively is currently embroiled in a legal war against her It Ends With Us director-leading man Justin Baldoni (L, pictured in 2024), who happens to be close friends with Penn
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Lively is currently embroiled in a legal war against her It Ends With Us director-leading man Justin Baldoni (L, pictured in 2024), who happens to be close friends with Penn

Badgley has even invited the 41-year-old filmmaker - who shares his Baha'i faith - to be a guest on his Podcrushed podcast in 2022 and 2023 (pictured)
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Badgley has even invited the 41-year-old filmmaker – who shares his Baha’i faith – to be a guest on his Podcrushed podcast in 2022 and 2023 (pictured)

Blake and Justin are scheduled to face off in Manhattan US District Court for a sexual harassment and defamation trial beginning March 2026, but the general public have already sided with Baldoni
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Blake and Justin are scheduled to face off in Manhattan US District Court for a sexual harassment and defamation trial beginning March 2026, but the general public have already sided with Baldoni

The Lewis & Clark College drop-out – who also dated Blink Twice director Zoë Kravitz – originally met Domino at a meatball shop in 2014.

Penn gushed: ‘When we first met, it was immediate. And before we had time to think, I think we wanted to be together in the deepest way.’

Badgley produced and stars as serial killer Joe Goldberg in the 10-episode fifth and final season of Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo’s series You, which premieres this Thursday on Netflix.

The small-screen adaptation of Caroline Kepnes’ novel series will also feature Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp, Griffin Matthews, Charlotte Ritchie, and Tati Gabrielle.