Penn Badgley Shares How Ex Blake Lively "Saved" Him

Penn Badgley is no longer a lonely boy.

After all, the Gossip Girl alum is dad to a 3-year-old boy with wife Domino Kirke, as well as a stepdad to her 15-year-old son Cassius with ex Morgan O'Kane. As he navigates fatherhood within a blended family, Penn has come to the realization that he plays "two different kind of parental roles."

"I have an interesting situation where I have a biological son and a stepson," the 37-year-old shared on the March 27 episode of the New York Times' Modern Love podcast. "And my stepson is—his father is very much in his life, so his father is his father, and I'm something else."

And given the large age gap between the boys, Penn said his approach to parenting each child is "very different." Referring to an essay he read about a father showing his softer side around his kids, Penn explained of his younger son, "I'm going to need to be able to more consciously show him my vulnerability as he gets older in those years, you know?" 

photosInternet Zaddies Who Are IRL Daddies

Meanwhile, the You star has discovered that bonding with his teenager can be as simple as a movie together.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful dimension of life," he said elsewhere in the podcast. "There's joy often."

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Recounting how the two recently stayed up late watching Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt's 2014 sci-fi action flick Edge of Tomorrow, Penn continued, "I just knew it was important. It was like the stars had aligned so that my wife and youngest son were asleep, and I was just like, 'This is a good time to do this. You're not going to play video games right now. We're going to do this.'"

As for what Cassius thought of the experience? "He loved it," Penn shared. "And you want to talk about modern love: One of the ways you got to do that is watch things with people."

But he isn't the only one in the Gossip Girl cast who is experiencing all the XOXOs of parenthood these days. Keep reading for an update on his former costars:

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