Penn Badgley’s wife has clarified her stance on her husband performing sex scenes on television.
Badgley, who married Domino Kirke-Badgley in February 2017, starred on the hit Netflix series You as Joe, a seemingly normal American man who lives a double life as a stalker and serial killer.
He made comments on his Podcrushed podcast in February 2023 about limiting his intimate scenes on the popular show. That decision, he explained, stemmed from the direction he wanted to take his career, saying, “Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I’m always [the] romantic lead?”
The Gossip Girl alum added: “Fidelity in every relationship — especially in a marriage — is important to me.”
Weeks later, Badgley told GQ that his comments were “blown out of proportion,” saying, “It was sort of like the culture inherent to the production of all movies, but particularly those scenes. It’s like, look, we know that Hollywood has had a history of flagrant exploitation and abuse.”
Now, Kirke-Badgley has chimed in, saying in a Monday Instagram post that she is still asked about her husband’s comments years later, clarifying that it was his decision to do fewer intimate scenes, and not hers.
“A few years ago, the internet decided I’d asked my husband to stop doing sex scenes. The truth is, my husband decided to do this for mental health reasons. After working in the industry since he was just 12 years old, believe me, it was time,” she wrote in her caption.
Speaking directly to the camera, Kirke-Badgley said: “Meaning, he didn’t want to have sex. He didn’t want to. Yes, he didn’t want to do any of that, which was really major in his industry because that’s the thing they like you to do the most,” she said.
“The characters that my husband has played over the years, people have come to expect that he will continue to play that guy,” she continued.
Kirke-Badgley said she supported her husband’s decision before concluding: “So yeah, I want to say to those of you who still DM me about my husband deciding to do this for himself and his mental health, like get over it.”
Badgley said on the 2023 podcast that he had asked the show’s creator Sera Gamble, “Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?”
He said that, to his relief, Gamble “didn’t even bat an eye” at his request.
“She was very glad that I was honest. She had a really positive response. They came back with a phenomenal reduction,” Badgley said.
You concluded its five-season Netflix run in 2025.
