Penn Badgely Opens Up About Drug Use in His Early 20’s

Penn Badgley recalled his trippy twenties while chatting with former Gossip Girl co-star, Chace Crawford on Variety’s Actors on Actors. Crawford asked Badgley whether he did any research for a scene in You where his character takes LSD. Penn confessed that he had tried hallucinogenic drugs in his youth. “In my early 20s, I did plenty of research,” Badgley responded.

The 33 year old actor plays the role of an obsessive stalker and serial killer in the popular series. In the second season of the show, which dropped on Netflix in December, Badgley’s character Joe takes a LSD trip. Netflix has commissioned a third season of You scheduled for a 2021 release.

Reminiscing their Gossip Girl Days

In their conversation for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Badgley and Crawford reminisced on their Gossip Girl days. The hit show is based on the scandalous lives of Upper East Side New York elites.

The show ran from 2007 to 2012, and remains one of the most popular dramas, till date. The show also helped launch the careers of its other cast members. Namely, Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick. For Badgley, the show, which ran for six seasons, feels like a distant memory now.

“That was remarkable,” he said. “It feels like another lifetime to me, like another world, another life. It’s pretty wild.”

“It was very hard to watch”

Both Crawford and Badgley admitted that it’s been a while since they’ve watched themselves starring in the popular teen drama.

“I know that I watched with my wife, with Domino Kirke, before we got married,” Badgley said. “It must’ve been six months after we met. She had never seen it, and that’s the last time I can remember seeing an episode.”

Badgley recalled feeling ‘uncomfortable’. “I remember even then, it has nothing to do with the show, but it was very hard to watch,” he added. “These snapshots of yourself when you’re 20, 21, 22 years old. Who can enjoy that? Sometimes it’s just uncomfortable.”

The pair teased the possibility of getting together for a Gossip girl watch party and live-tweeting. ‘To go back and open that time capsule, I think there would be some nostalgic value,’ Crawford said. Badgley seemed to like the idea. “Dude, if we live-tweet a viewing of any episode of Gossip Girl, people would love that.”

Gossip Girl Reboot

The HBO Max return of Gossip Girl is perhaps one of the most anticipated upcoming television reboots. The new series is described as an “extension” of the original, taking place eight years after Gossip Girl closed her laptop for good. The reboot was initially scheduled for autumn 2020. It has now been pushed until 2021 because of the corona virus pandemic.

The new series reportedly features Emily Alyn Lind, Whitney Peak, Eli Brown, Johnathan Fernandez, Jason Gotay, Tavi Gevinson, Thomas Doherty. Adam Chanler-Berat, Zion Moreno and Savannah Smit have also joined the cast. Fans of the original will be excited to know that Kristen Bell will be returning as narrator.

However, Kristen seems to be the only old cast member returning. Neither Badgley or Crawford indicated their involvement in the reboot. Instead they said they were interested to see how the show will play out for its new cast.

“I’m so interested to see what it’s like,” Badgley said of the reboot. “I wish them well. I really am also interested to see how people react to it.”

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