Fact-Checking the Rumors: What Penn Badgley Has Actually Said About His Sexuality and Beliefs
When fact-checking celebrity sexuality rumors, the primary sources are unambiguous. Penn Badgley is straight and has spent his entire adult life in high-profile and private heterosexual partnerships. He has never stated, implied, or suggested that he is bisexual, gay, or queer.
During the height of Gossip Girl, Badgley dated co-star Blake Lively from 2007 to 2010. Their relationship mirrored their on-screen romance, drawing massive paparazzi interest while both actors kept their private lives largely insulated from press intrusion. Following their split, Badgley dated actress Zoë Kravitz from 2011 to 2013, maintaining a low public profile throughout the relationship.
In 2014, Badgley began dating Domino Kirke, an accomplished singer, author, and doula from the prominent Kirke artistic family (sister to actresses Jemima and Lola Kirke). The couple married on February 27, 2017, in an intimate civil ceremony at a Brooklyn courthouse, followed by a second wedding celebration with friends and family in upstate New York that summer. The couple shares a son, born in August 2020, and Badgley is the stepfather to Kirke's older son, Cassius. Badgley has repeatedly highlighted how his domestic partnership anchored his adult identity far away from Hollywood vanity.