Penn Badgley made a rare comment about his relationship with 16-year-old stepson Cassius.
“Any real parent figure is always going to be cringe to some degree, definitely,” Badgley, 39, said in Luxury Handbag Shopping’s exclusive clip from Amanda Hirsch’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast episode, dropping on Tuesday, November 11. “But, I think there’s also — I am who I am, and I am not the most uncool stepparent you can have.”
Badgley subtly admitted he might actually be a “cool” stepdad.
He also recalled wife Domino Kirke watching the first episode of Gossip Girl with Cassius.
“He was young enough that it wasn’t inappropriate but that he was uninterested,” Badgley explained. “He’s definitely getting to the age where — I still think 16 [or] 17 is young to be watching You.”
He added, “The themes that it’s dealing with, even with its camp and humor and unseriousness, to really grasp it and not be somehow internalizing the thing it’s satirizing, I think you have to be older. I think you have to be in your 20s, personally.”
All in all, Badgley said that Cassius “hasn’t really seen” a lot of stuff he’s been in. “But he sees my TikToks,” Badgley quipped.
Badgley and Kirke, 41, met in 2014 when Cassius was only 5 years old. (Kirke welcomed Cassius during a prior relationship with Morgan O’Kane.)
The couple married in 2017 and have since expanded their family, welcoming a son in August 2020. It was previously reported that Badgley and Kirke had named their son James. However, the actor has since denied that rumor.
“We’d get it removed [from Wikipedia], and it would just go back,” Badgley said during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in May, sharing that his son’s name was listed as James on his page. Badgley and Kirke have attempted to get it removed — but someone kept putting it back.
“I have a platform, why not clear the air?” Badgley said at the time, adding that his son’s actual name will “remain undisclosed” for now. “It’s a good name, though!” he added.
Badgley announced in February that he and Kirke were expecting twins.
“Every time I see the sonogram it just … it feels so good,” Badley gushed during the same talk show appearance, noting that his kids’ upbringing is much different than his was. “As an only child, that’s touching to see them together.”
He added, “They’re in there like it’s a hot tub. I actually have seen … there’s a sonogram of them almost like facing each other. I cannot fathom what it would be like to have someone with you there.”
Badgley and Kirke’s other son, meanwhile, was ready to take on the role of big brother.
“The 4-year-old we have — I just said it like he’s a bag or something — he’s stoked because he really wants to be a big brother,” Badgley added. “And the 16-year-old, he’s excited for us, but he’s also like, ‘I’m going to leave in two years!’”
Their twin boys were born in September, and their names have yet to be revealed.
The full episode of “Not Skinny But Not Fat” with Penn Badgley drops Tuesday on all podcast platforms and Wednesday on YouTube.
