Penn Badgley’s world was once livin’ on the edge after a prank orchestrated by then-girlfriend Blake Lively convinced him Steven Tyler was his father.
The ultimate gossip girl once had the tables turned on him.
Penn Badgley recently recounted an epic prank pulled on him by his fellow Gossip Girl star and then-girlfriend Blake Lively—one that once led him to believing Steven Tyler was his biological father.
“I get an email, just like, ‘There’s this press item we’re trying to kill but just so you know, somebody thinks, or Steven Tyler thinks, he’s your dad,'” Penn recalled on the May 23 episode of his Podcrushed podcast. “Didn’t even think about it for a moment because who would in their right mind think that that’s true?”
The 37-year-old went on to detail how his publicist kept him informed over the next few days, until she expressed that the Aerosmith frontman himself seemed to believe the rumor.
“At this point, I of course don’t think it’s true,” he noted. “But I’m just like, ‘How could Steven Tyler believe this? Like, there’s no way. You have to be kidding. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith thinks that I’m his?'”
It was at this point, Penn, on Blake’s suggestion, decided to check in with his mother about the rumor.
And while the You star noted his mother is in no way an actress, she apparently turned up the drama for the phone call.
“She’s upset, and I’m like, ‘Mom, why are you upset?'” he remembered. “And then she takes a pause—that is like the pause that sold me—and she goes, ‘Why do you think we moved out of Maryland?'”
Penn—whose parents Duff and Lynne Badgley divorced when he was 12—continued, “And I’m telling you, for something like 5 to 7 seconds, which is a long time, I was speechless, and my world was rearranging. I was like, ‘Are you f–-king kidding me? I am Steven Tyler’s son.'”
But it was one look at Blake—who he noted could no longer keep a straight face—that told Penn to dream on, and that it was really she who had orchestrated the whole prank.
“I was impressed,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘Wow. You really put in a lot of work, and it worked. For it to work at all, that’s hard.'”
Blake and Penn dated between 2007 and 2010, at the height of Gossip Girl‘s early popularity. And though their romance was short-lived, and though they’ve since moved onto new partners—Blake shares four kids with husband Ryan Reynolds while Penn shares a son and stepson with wife Domino Kirke—Penn credits their time together with helping him navigate his early days of fame.
“To be honest, I never struggled with substance,” he told Variety in February 2023. “Blake didn’t drink, and I think our relationship in some ways saved me from forcing myself to go down that road.”
For more on where Blake, Penn and the rest of the original Gossip Girl cast is today, keep reading.
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Blake Lively
The actress, who portrayed It Girl Serena van der Woodsen, has been keeping very busy since the end of Gossip Girl. A few months prior to the 2012 finale, Lively tied the knot with actor Ryan Reynolds and they’re now the proud parents to four kids: daughters James, Inez and Betty and a baby born in 2023, whose name and sex has not been revealed. In recent years, she’s starred in hit movies The Age of Adaline, The Shallows, A Simple Favor and The Rhythm Section.
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Penn Badgley
Lonely Boy no more! Badgley, who portrayed Dan Humphrey (who, spoiler alert, was ultimately revealed to be Gossip Girl), has been making headlines for his turn as stalker Joe Goldberg on the hit Netflix series You.
On a more personal note, Badgley is also a married man. The actor tied the knot with Domino Kirke, the sister of Girls actress Jemima Kirke, in Feb. 2017. They welcomed their first baby together in August 2020. Of course, fans of GG remember Badgley and Lively dated during the show’s early run before splitting in 2010.
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Leighton Meester
The actress, who portrayed Blair Waldorf, has been making a splash in the comedy world in recent years, starring in ABC’s Single Parents.
Meester married actor Adam Brody (aka The O.C.‘s Seth Cohen) and they’re parents of a daughter named Arlo, born in 2015, and a son born in 2020, whose name has not been revealed.
Chace Crawford
For six seasons, viewers swooned over Crawford’s character Nate Archibald. Since the 2012 finale, Crawford has starred in ABC’s Blood & Oil, as well as films Eloise and All About Nina. Crawford now stars in the Amazon original series The Boys.
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Ed Westwick
Westwick rose to fame as Chuck Bass and after hanging up his character’s signature scarf, he went on to appear in 2013’s Romeo & Juliet and star in 2015’s short-lived ABC drama Wicked City. He also starred in the British TV series White Gold.
In the fall of 2017, the Los Angeles Police Department started an investigation into sexual assault allegations made by several women against Westwick, which he denied. In July 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney declined to prosecute Westwick after determining there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges in two instances and a third accuser failed to cooperate with investigators.
For the last few years, Westwick has been a relationship with actress Amy Jackson. In January 2024, they announced their engagement.
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Taylor Momsen
Little J has come a long way since her days trying to snag a place in Blair’s crew. Momsen was just 14 when she starred as Jenny Humphrey on Gossip Girl, though she left the show in 2010 as music was her ultimate passion from an early age. She went on to form and front her band The Pretty Reckless when she was 17.
As for a potential return to acting? “I never say never anymore in life, especially now with all the curveballs the world is throwing everyone,” she told E! at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards, her first red carpet in five years. “But no immediate plans.”
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Jessica Szohr
Szohr burst onto the Hollywood scene with her breakout role as Vanessa Abrams in GG. Since that time, the actress has appeared in films The Internship, Ted 2 and Two Night Stand. She’s also been on TV shows Kingdom, Shameless and The Orville.
She gave birth to daughter Bowie Ella with hockey pro fiancé Brad Richardson in January 2021.
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Kristen Bell
Since the finale in 2012, the snarky narrator—who returned for the reboot—tied the knot with longtime love Dax Shepard, with whom she shares daughters Lincoln and Delta. In the acting world, the actress starred in Hulu’s Veronica Mars revival and NBC’s The Good Place. Bell also fronted the Bad Moms films and voices Anna in Disney’s Frozen and Frozen 2.
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Sebastian Stan
Remember when Bucky Barnes was on was on Gossip Girl? That’s right, the actor appeared in 11 episodes of the CW series as bad boy Carter Baizen from 2007 to 2010 and dated Leighton Meester during that time.
Since his time on the show, Stan has become a household name thanks to his role as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier in the Captain America and Avengers films. He also starred on Disney+’s The Falcon and Winter Soldier opposite Anthony Mackie and in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy.
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Hilary Duff
It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a decade since Duff made a guest appearance on GG. In her six-episode arc, she appeared as Hollywood star Olivia Burke, who sparked a romance with Dan while at NYU and infamously engaged in a threesome with the not-so-Lonely Boy and his BFF Vanessa.
Since then, Duff starred in her own hit TV series, Younger and How I Met Your Father. She was about to step back into Lizzie McGuire’s platform sandals for a Disney+ revival, but it didn’t work out due to differing creative visions.
In 2019, the “So Yesterday” singer married musician Matthew Koma, and they share daughters Banks, Mae and Townes. She’s also mom to son Luca from her past marriage to Mike Comrie.
