Blake Full of life‘s ex-boyfriend, Penn Badgley, has revealed how playing the role of Dan Humphrey on “Gossip Girl” affected his relationship with the actress.
The duo began dating on the set of the six-season series after hitting it off when Badgley was solid.
Blake Full of life and Penn Badgley’s relationship lasted for a brief time frame and remained mostly private as a consequence of their involvement within the show.
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Penn Badgley Opens Up About His Relationship With Blake Full of life
Between 2007 and 2010, Badgley and Full of life dated while filming the hit series “Gossip Girl,” where they played on-screen love interests Dan Humphrey and Serena van der Woodsen.
In a brand new interview, Badgley has revealed that he found it a “struggle” so far the actress as a consequence of his inability to separate his real-life identity from his on-screen character as his fame grew.
“It was the struggle,” the “You” star admitted during his appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday. “What starts to occur whenever you’re on this one role for a very long time — the aspect of celebrity being a component of it, an enormous a part of it — there just isn’t enough separation, I feel, for anybody,” he added.
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The actor continued. “You are seen as this person, you are called their name out on the road. You furthermore may continuously need to be that person at work.”
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Penn Badgley Confessed He Lacked The ‘Emotional Maturity’ To Make A Distinction
Reflecting further on the experience, Badgley admitted that he lacked the “emotional maturity to grasp the best way to differentiate” himself from his “Gossip Girl” character when he played the role.
He claimed it was a “self-worth” issue, as “what people looked as if it would consider Dan gave the impression to be what people considered me.”
Meanwhile, Full of life has previously shared the same sentiment about struggling to separate herself from her on-screen character. On the time, she hinted that this blurred line can have contributed to their breakup after three years together.
“I used to be wearing the identical clothes and doing fashion shoots, and dating the identical person as my character was dating,” Full of life said during a 2017 retrospective of the show published by Vanity Fair, per The List.
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She added, “What people were projecting onto me was that I used to be Serena.”
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The ‘You’ Star Once Revealed That His Relationship With Blake Full of life ‘Saved’ Him
Despite the “struggle,” there have been some upsides to Badgley’s relationship with Full of life.
He once described their time together on and off screen as “fun and fast-paced,” though he admitted there was a “dark undercurrent that might bottom out in my later 20s.”
In accordance with him, being with Full of life, who didn’t drink alcohol, helped steer him away from turning to substances while navigating the non-public struggles he was facing on the time.
“To be honest, I never struggled with substance,” Badgley said in an interview with Variety. “Blake didn’t drink, and I feel our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road.”
Penn Badgley Says His Personal Struggles Were ‘Nothing Short Of A Spiritual Crisis’
In the course of the interview, Badgley also clarified that the non-public struggles he was coping with were “nothing in need of a spiritual crisis.”
“Like anybody who experiences some extent of fame and wealth,” he added. “I used to be presented with the universal truth that not only does it not make your life higher or easier, it actually can greatly complicate things, and make you quite unhappy.”
Years after separating, Full of life and Badgley have since moved on of their romantic lives and have been in long-lasting relationships.
Full of life is married to Marvel star Ryan Reynolds, with whom she has 4 children: James, Inez, Betty, and Olin.
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However, Badgley is married to singer Domino Kirke, with whom he shares a son, James. The actor can also be a stepfather to Cassius Riley, Kirke’s son, and is expecting a set of twins along with her.
Blake Full of life Is Embroiled In A Legal Battle With Penn Badgley’s Close Friend, Justin Baldoni
Full of life is currently involved in a legal battle with Justin Baldoni, who’s reportedly close pals along with her ex-boyfriend Badgley.
Full of life and Baldoni played leading roles within the romantic drama “It Ends With Us,” after which she shocked many by filing a sexual harassment and defamation lawsuit against her co-star.
Since Full of life filed the suit, the duo has been locked in a messy legal back-and-forth, with Baldoni countersuing the actress and her husband, Reynolds.
Several other individuals, including superstar Taylor Swift, have also been pulled into the fray.
Now, Full of life and Baldoni are set to face off in court when the trial begins on the U.S. District Court in Manhattan in March 2026.
