Penn Badgley is leaning in. After keeping his personal life [1] out of the spotlight for much of his career, the "You" star has quickly become one of our favorite follows on TikTok.
Badgley joined the app [2] out of the blue last October, much to the delight and surprise of fans. For his first post, the 36-year-old actor pulled double duty as himself and Joe Goldberg (aka Jonathan Moore, for anyone caught up on "You" season four [3]) and lip-synced to Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero." Later that day, he played into the buzz by pretending to vomit in response to one fan's "screaming crying throwing up" comment. "Me too," he croaked into a silver bowl resting atop a chair in what appeared to be his family's Brooklyn home. A star was instantly born.
"It just was the perfect moment."
As it turns out, we have Swift's lead "Midnights" single [4] to thank for Badgley's TikTok debut. "I thought for years, 'I'll get a TikTok when the time is right,'" he recently told Rolling Stone [5]. "And then when Taylor's record came out, it just seemed the song wouldn't have worked with anybody else. Me. Joe. 'Anti-Hero.' Taylor Swift? It just was the perfect moment."
Badgley has kept up the momentum these past few months, consistently raking in millions of views on each video. He gets in on trending dances, creatively promotes his podcast, and duets with random creators who tag him in their videos. It's also worth noting his follower-to-following ratio; with more than three million followers amassed so far, he's only followed back 12 people, including Lola Kirke (sister of his wife, Domino Kirke-Badgley [6]), Lizzo, Meghan Trainor, and a few other creators he's collaborated with. Quite the impressive stats for a relative TikTok newbie.
To celebrate Badgley's TikTok genius, we're running through all of the "Gossip Girl" alum's videos to date. Watch 'em all ahead, and be sure to slam that red "follow" button on his account [7] if you haven't already.
