Why Dating Gossip Girl Co-Star Blake Lively Was A Struggle For Penn Badgley

New Delhi:

Gossip Girl spanning six seasons and 121 episodes was a major moment in pop culture. The series premiered on CW on September 19, 2007 and ended on December 17, 2012.

Penn Badgley who played the role of Dan Humphrey dated Blake Lively, popular for her character Serena Van Der Woodsen in Gossip Girl. Their on-and-off relationship was known to all, while it lasted.

Penn who is currently busy promoting YOU, recently appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, and confessed how dating his Gossip Girl co-star was a struggle, and completely changed his life.

Penn shared, “When you do a television show, you’re doing it constantly because of the nature of that show. You feel like you are constantly, even though no one may be actually asking you to do this, you feel like you are constantly needing to prove yourself in some manner. Otherwise, what are you doing? I mean, you know, what is the space?”

He further revealed that the difference between his onscreen relationship as Dan with Blake’s character Serena and his real-life relationship with Blake Lively, was the major cause of drift as it was very contrasting.

Speaking about how differentiating between his reel and real self got a little bothersome for him, Penn added, “There is not enough separation, I think, for anybody. You are seen as this person; you are called by that 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.”

Penn and Blake parted ways in 2010, and the series concluded in 2012. However, that did not impact their friendship on the sets, as they continued to be a much-loved onscreen couple.