Yes, Penn Badgley Lost Weight for 'You' But He's Probably Not Going to Talk About It
Updated April 16 2020, 1:58 p.m. ET
Penn Badgley has been pretty outspoken over his hatred of his character in Netflix's You. But while there are still many fans of the show that love Penn's Joe, or at least his portrayal of him, some are also a little concerned about what he had to go through to play the murderous stalker.
It's easy to see that Penn looks quite a bit skinnier in the role of Joe than he did as Dan Humphrey in Gossip Girl. But if we're expecting to hear from him about his weight loss, you're probably going to be waiting a long time.
Penn Badgley has never spoken about his drastic weight loss for You.
Although Season 2 of You just came out, Penn's skinnier frame existed back in Season 1 as well. And Penn has been getting questions about it ever since the show premiered. But he hasn't really addressed it.
Although he's active on social media, he's not one to speak about his diet or post gym selfies. He uses his platform for social justice and really doesn't deviate from that, except for the occasional photos of his family, show promotion, and random pictures of doors.
Most recently, Penn has stopped posting about nearly anything except for the state of the U.S.-Mexico border and the rights of immigrants. Even when Season 2 of You dropped on Netflix on Dec. 26, Penn did not post anything that drifted away from this discourse. If we're waiting for Penn to start utilizing social media to talk about his diet and weight loss, we'll probably be waiting a long time.
Penn's weight has been a discussion long before You.
As someone who has been in the public eye for quite some time, Penn's appearance has been speculated upon for years. You is not the first show that caused someone to notice a weight loss in the actor.
Around Season 3 of Gossip Girl, Penn's weight gain was frequently commented upon. Speaking to Men's Health in 2010, Penn addressed that he had an "indulgent" trip in Europe and that he was given one week to "get in shape" for his role in The Stepfather, in which he claimed he would have to have his shirt off for more than half of his scenes. Although he lost two to three pounds of fat, he added a lot of muscle.
At the beginning of Season 6 of Gossip Girl, however, fans again commented that Penn had lost weight and some spoke about how they believed he looked better with more muscle and that they feared he looked too frail.
It's quite possible that Penn's natural body shape is skinnier than we remember because we remember him with the bulk he added for his The Stepfather role. But whether or not Penn did lose more weight for his role in You, he's most likely not going to be talking about it anytime soon, nor are we going to be getting the "Look Like Joe Goldberg" diet from Penn ever.