Gossip Girl costars Penn Badgley and Blake Lively, who played on-screen love interests Dan Humphrey and Serena van der Woodsen, dated for three years in the late 2000s. Over the years, Penn has discussed his experience working with Blake on the hit CW show.
In a recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Penn shared his thoughts on living a life similar to his character’s during the six-year run of Gossip Girl. He described feeling like he was struggling to separate his personal and professional life as a 20-year-old actor in New York City.
Penn acknowledged that TV shows are different from films, with constant demands for performance and constant scrutiny from fans. This led to him feeling pressure to prove himself constantly, making it difficult to differentiate between his on-screen persona and his real-life self-worth.
According to Penn, he didn’t have the emotional maturity to distinguish himself at the time, as people’s perceptions of his character seemed to translate to their opinions about him. He also credited Blake with helping him avoid issues with alcohol in his 20s.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/leylamohammed/penn-badgley-recalls-gossip-girl-blake-lively-struggle