Penn Badgley credits ex girlfriend Blake Lively for "saving" him from the pitfalls of fame

Blake Lively and Penn Badgley are two of the most talked-about people in the world. And particularly this week, with Lively listed as one of Time's most influential people of 2025, and Badgley returning to our screens as Joe Goldberg in the fifth and final season of Netflix thriller, You.

It is their former relationship that makes the most headlines, with Blake Lively and Penn Badgley dating from 2007 to 2010.

In fact, the IRL couple were together during the first three seasons of Gossip Girl, where they starred as onscreen couple Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey. And with the show sparking their meteoric rise to fame, Badgley has credited their relationship, and Lively's influence, for grounding him - saving him from some of the pitfalls of stardom.

"I never struggled with substance," Badgley has previously recalled in an interview with Variety. "Blake didn't drink. And I think our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road."

He later continued: "Like anybody who experiences some degree of fame and wealth, I was presented with the universal truth that not only does it not make your life better or easier, it actually can greatly complicate things, and make you quite unhappy."

Lively and Badgley are reported to have remained on amicable terms since their 2010 split, continuing to work together on the CW show until its 2012 finale.

And while they aren't said to be in regular contact, Badgley has insisted that there is zero bad blood between the former couple.

"We haven't spoken in a while, you know," Badgley told the Huffington Post back in March 2015. "There's an amicable silence if that makes any sense."

We will continue to update this story.

Season five of You is set for release on Thursday 24 April 2025.