Penn Badgley made a huge confession about his work life in a new interview.
During his appearance in Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, April 23, the Easy A actor drew parallel between working in a film and a TV series and revealed the struggles behind doing the latter.
He explained that when doing a film, actors can move on from their characters once the movie is released. However, working on a TV series makes it difficult to separate oneself from the role, as “you’re doing it constantly.”
“When you do a television show, you're doing it constantly because of the nature of that show. You feel like you're constantly, even though no one may be actually asking you to do this, you feel like you're constantly needing to prove yourself in some manner. Otherwise, what are you doing? I mean, you know, what is the space?” Penn stated.
In the conversation, Penn Badgley also opened up about the troubles he faced when he dated Blake Lively while working together in the hit TV show Gossip Girl.
The then-lovebirds, who were in a romantic relationship after meeting on the set of Gossip Girl, parted their ways three years later.
Penn confessed to Alex that he struggled in his relationship with Blake primarily because of the contrast between their side by side on-and-off screen romance.
“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, and I was 20. I was 21 or 22, so I didn't have the emotional maturity to understand or to differentiate myself just in terms of self-worth,” the You actor noted.
The interview comes amid the release of Penn Badgley’s You season 5.
‘You’ season 5 cast:
The 5th season of You comprises of a star-studded cast that includes Penn Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp, and Griffin Matthews.
‘You’ season 5 release date:
The highly anticipated TV series You, which first aired in September 2018, premieres its fifth and final season on Netflix on April 24, 2025.
