Actor Penn Badgley has recently written an essay about fame and being a celebrity titled Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss and Coming-of-Age. In a recent conversation on the Totally Booked with Zibby podcast, the You actor opened up about his motivation behind writing the essays.
"I wanted to, and intended initially at the outset of that essay, to write way more specifically about what fame is or isn't or what, at least, my experience of it is. It's not just a huge part of a celebrity's life. It's a huge part of everybody's life. Our culture is just inextricably, undeniably entangled and obsessed with celebrity."
Badgley further reasoned why it is important to "hear more" from celebrities themselves. "I think we should hear more, also, from people who are famous because it just gives us more of the pie of experience. It gives us more of a share of, like, 'All right, let's just examine this from all angles ...' I think the weirdness of celebrity is that, at worst, it really clouds the vision of the person suffering under it," he explained.
Coming to himself, he said that being a celebrity forms a "huge part" of his life and that it has impacted his life like anything else. "It has impacted my life no less than any other thing. Being a father, being a man, eventually becoming a Baha'i, which is my faith, my religion, when I was in my late 20s. Thank God when I die, the celebrity will go. Until then, as long as my celebrity lasts, it's a huge part of my life."
Known for his role as Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl, Badgley wrapped up his work on the Netflix series You with season five earlier this year. On the acting front, he has the rom-com You Deserve Each Other helmed by Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn and also starring Meghann Fahy.
