Penn Badgley
speaker
222 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2025
last heard 31 May
Penn Badgley’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 1.
Appearances
Yeah, very early.
I mean, so not the whole family. And I wasn't, I mean, my mom was fully capable of working, but she needed to be present. So it was like this dynamic thing. I mean, I was financially independent by 15. I wasn't always the breadwinner, but then, you know, by the time, but like I've always needed to and wanted to provide support for my parents since then.
When has that stopped?
Who wants to be? No. Well, so here's the thing. That's true starting at 20 years old. So I had eight years of near financial independence, professional work. I was working. I was tired of television by the time Gossip Girl came around.
I famously said, or I don't know famously, but I've said many times, you know, I initially turned the role down and I didn't, and I didn't just like kind of turn it down. I mean, I said, I said, so...
grateful you thought of me wish you well but no thanks and they went on to try and cast the whole thing and cast Dan and and they and they and they evidently could cast everybody but but Dan but so you know by the time the point is not about Gossip Girl the point is about time I was 20 I was like I was feeling real disillusioned and dried up and tired of being in Hollywood of acting and
I've been doing it my entire, since I was 12. When you're 20 years old and you've been doing something professionally since you were 12, that's your life. That's like your whole life. And I was, I was, yeah, I was... You were done because you didn't like it anymore?
That also, I just was not, you know, I came real close, really close to like a number of great roles in these great independent films and I wouldn't get them. Um... And I was like, okay, great. But you know what? I really wanted to try my hand at music. That had been my passion since, you know.
But the point is, I was real... I had a tiredness about me at 20 that I think is not typical for a 20-year-old because I've been working for so long.
With all due respect. And I mean, I told the creators this at the outset. So it's not and it's not no shocker. Like, I was not interested. And and that's you know, that's just I think that's fair to say. That's that's fair to say. That's what I have to say about that.
I was close to broke. Although that was not I was looking forward to like figuring that out. I'd had a pretty Spartan year behind me, you know, I was like, I, I was enjoying my way of life. But the future was real unknown. And I think, you know, it's not like I could go live with my parents for The stakes, the stakes is high, right?
So, and you know, a few people, I mean, my manager certainly spoke about it in a way that he thought it was a good idea. Few key people close to me. And then it was New York City, getting to live in New York City where I've now lived since, which is my home and I'd always wanted to live there. You know, you also think about a show like that, it's hard to grow beyond it. I'm gonna be 40 next year.
Wait, I'm 30. You lose track at some point. I'm 38.
So I'm gonna be 39 this year. Next year, I will be 40. I will still be answering questions about this show I decided to do when I was 20, you know what I mean? And whatever, that is what it is. Like, certainly that's fine. But it sets you on a certain track that you have to, in a sense, resist. You have to learn how to work with it, interface with it.
Otherwise, it just sort of takes you on its ride. So, you know, you're kind of playing, you're taking a huge risk, I think, in a way, actually. You know, if it's going to set you up to do only some things and you're going to have to fight to try and do other things, you know.
because then you want to you want to keep growing yeah you yeah you want to have some autonomy and you sign so also signing on to a television show what you do is you have to sign a six-year contract there's no other way to do it you don't you know you haven't seen any of those scripts you're just like all right so you know yeah i mean it's yeah i mean i chose to do it
Cause it felt like it could be an exciting new experience. And, and I'm, yeah, no, I mean, look, I'm grateful for it now. It took, but it took some time. Cause I, cause keep in mind, I started in a place where I was like tired, disillusioned. I was literally compared to the others. Like oddly, I was like a veteran, you know? And I was just kind of like, here we go.
I mean, I'd done like four series before that, you know?
I mean, it's not that hard. He's like, he's, isn't he kind of, he's not quiet, is he?
He's TV quiet.
Showing 81–100 of 222 · page 5 of 12
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