Penn Badgley has made a career out of playing deeply troubled characters. From his role as Joe Goldberg on the Netflix series “You” to Dan Humphrey on “Gossip Girl,” Badgley has shown many times over how obsession and delusion can destroy love. In his personal life, though, Badgley says he’s not doing too much brooding. He’s a father and a stepfather, and he opens up about the importance of being vulnerable with his kids. Badgley reads “Watching Them Watching Me” by Dean E. Murphy, an essay about a father who can no longer hide his emotions from his sons after they all experience a devastating loss.
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From the New York Times, I'm Anna Martin.
This is Modern Love.
Today, a conversation with the actor Penn Badgley.
Penn is best known for playing brooding characters.
He plays a bookish,
handsome serial killer who stalks women in the name of love on the Netflix show You.
"Where is she?
Tell me where she is!
Tell me or I'll kill you!"
And, of course, he played Dan Humphrey in the original Gossip Girl.
"Within weeks I was getting dozens of emails with stories about Upper East Siders,
so I posted them anonymously."
Dan Humphrey is the outsider among his wealthy group of high schoolers.
And, spoiler alert for a TV show that finished airing in 2012,
he ends up being revealed as the anonymous blogger ruining all of their lives.
So, brooding might be an understatement.
"At first I thought the Modern Love essay Penn chose to read today felt like a departure from the work I'm used to seeing him in.
It's an essay about a father who needs to embrace his vulnerability in order to help himself and his three sons.
Penn is also a father and a stepfather,