We first met him as “lonely boy” Dan Humphrey on the hit TV series Gossip Girl, but now actor Penn Badgley is the star of a very different show, Netflix’s psychological thriller You.
The hugely popular series premiered last September, with Penn playing Joe Goldberg, a New York bookstore manager who develops an obsessive infatuation with local woman Guinevere Beck, and now the second season is about to drop on Netflix on Boxing Day, ready for you to binge watch while you pick at your delicious Christmas leftovers.
While we know loads about Penn’s professional career, the 33-year-old keeps his personal life relatively under wraps, despite high profile relationships with fellow actors including his Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively (yep, the pair dated IRL for ages) and Big Little Lies’ star Zoe Kravitz.
But a little bit of Instagram stalking has revealed Penn is married to singer and doula, Domino Kirke.
The pair started dating in 2014 and were married three years later, in 2017.
Keep on scrolling to find out everything there is to know about the romance between these two lovebirds.
Domino and Penn pictured together in New York City in 2017.
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The genetically-blessed pair met through acting circles.
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Too cute! A couple selfie from Domino’s Instagram account.
(Credit: Instagram)She’s a slashie – a musician and a doula
After being signed to a record label at age 17, Domino has gone onto record four EPs with acclaimed musicians including Mark Ronson and Lily Allen, and in 2017 she released her own album, Beyond Waves.
In 2009, she became a doula – a woman who provdes guidance and support to pregnant women during labour – and created a New York-base doula business, Carriage House Birth.
Domino says she loves having two jobs and in fact, hates being defined by just one career label.
“I think it’s an age of people doing a lot more than just one thing,” she told WWD.
“I think we’re lucky to be able to not just be an actor; we can do a lot more now these days, I find. But we get judged for it. My sister [Jemima], she’s a brilliant painter, but because she was on Girls, maybe her painting won’t be as well-regarded. I’m not like, ‘I’m a famous doula.’ I’m a doula. I’m trying to find a way to get rid of the stigma around ‘you’re the singer, you’re the actor’ — we have to be able to do more than one thing.”
A couple shot by candlelight.
(Credit: Instagram)
A sweet grainy social media snap.
(Credit: Instagram)Domino’s family is famous
Domino, who at age 36 is three years older than Penn, comes from a family of actors herself.
Her sister Jemima Kirke starred as Jessa on Lena Dunham’s hit HBO series Girls, and her youngest sister Lola Kirke played the lead in the Stan series Mozart in the Jungle.
READ NEXT: 10 reasons why we’re still obsessed with Gossip Girl, all these years later
Domino (left) with her sisters Jemima Kirke (centre) and Lola Kirke (right).
(Credit: Instagram)But she still likes to keep a low profile
Domino is clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight and avoids attending red carpet events or being papped in public with her husband.
The two rarely share snaps of each other on social media.
“I was like, ‘Ugh, actors’…and then I married an actor [Penn Badgley],” Domino joked to WWD of her dislike for the entertainment industry.
“So I feel like a crazy person, with my art, my famous family and with all the things people know about me — like, I’m married to ‘Gossip Girl.’ This stuff is crazy! I’m unknown as a musician, so for me, it’s an interesting balance.”
WATCH BELOW: The trailer for the first season of You. Story continues after video.
She’s a mother
Domino has a nine-year-old son, Cassius, from her previous relationship with musician Morgan O’Kane.
“We knew right away we were meant to have a child together,” Domino told The L Magazine in 2011 of her old flame, years before she met Penn.
Her own birthing experience with Cassius is what actually inspired her to become a doula.
She attempted to have a home birth, but after being in labor for three days, she suffered a uterine infection, giving her a dangerously high fever. She was then transferred to a hospital where Cassius was delivered via C-section.
Domino’s son Cassius, sitting with Penn and Domino at the US Open in 2019.
(Credit: Getty)Domino and Penn’s romance surprised even them
“It all happened quite quickly,” Domino told i-D magazine of their whirlwind romance.
“I got married and it was a bit of a whirlwind I wasn’t expecting for the next phase for Penn [Badgley] and I. To be honest, it came as a huge surprise, and it happened after the record was made so it’s been a very busy year.”
Domino says she was “getting used to being a single mother”, when she met Penn.
“I was sad and a little scared that that was going to be it for me, but I was good at it. I had a really good thing with my kid and we were like this little team,” she told Hey Mama.
“Penn and I were dating, but it wasn’t nearly as serious as it is now, of course. I didn’t think marriage was in the cards for us. So I was sort of just chugging along, surviving and getting through the days, and I think the difference now is that I’m really living … I’m blown away by how things have shifted.”
READ NEXT: Inside Gossip Girl stars Penn Badgley and Blake Lively’s real life love story
The genetically-blessed couple didn’t expect for their relationship to become serious.
(Credit: Instagram)
The cute couple pictured on holidays together.
(Credit: Instagram)The couple had not one, but two weddings!
Yup, these two tied the knot officially in 2017 – twice!
Domino and Penn pose for photos with Cassius at their courthouse wedding.
(Credit: Instagram)
The couple celebrating after their first wedding.
(Credit: Instagram)“My first wedding was more of a civil ceremony with about 40 people that was able to join us in a pinch,” Domino told Hey Mama.
“The second one was more planned. 200 people came from all over the world. It just felt necessary to have both.”
Cute snaps shared on her Instagram account reveal the courthouse wedding was a much more low-key affair, with Domino donning a simply white dress for the occasion, while Penn wore a smart suit.
But for her official big day, the bride went all out in a gorgeous Charlotte Olympia lace dress with a long flowing veil.
Domino’s gorgeous wedding dress.
(Credit: Instagram)
The couple having their first dance at their proper wedding.
(Credit: Instagram)
