“I think anybody who gets to that stage in reality is so beyond self-loathing. If you hate yourself, well, then you're going to turn some of that hatred on the world around you.”

— "Penn Badgley Isn't Who You Fans Think He Is" in InStyle (14 October 2021)

“Honestly, for me, acting is just a very spiritual thing where I’m just present with the words I read on the screen, and when it’s awful and it kind of makes your skin crawl, then that’s what comes up and that’s what I do.”

— "Penn Badgley weighs in on the worst thing his 'Gossip Girl' character ever did" in TODAY (22 October 2021)

“I will say that honestly, as an actor ... As a person, I intellectualize plenty before and after, right? But really, as an actor during, I don't need to apply that same intellectual process because, first of all, when you play a character for this long, you just kind of know... It's very intuitive.”

— "'You': Penn Badgley on Joe's Wild Story in Season 3 and How Season 4 May Be "Quite Different"" in Collider (18 October 2021)