Off-screen, he seems nothing like Joe Goldberg (thank goodness).
There's only one "you" in Penn Badgley's life at the moment, and that's his wife of more than four years, Domino Kirke. The Gossip Girl alum may shy away from the limelight, but his love story with Kirke is too beautiful not to share. Though it's unclear when Kirke — who's a musician, a doula, and the sister of actor Jemima Kirke — first met Badgley, it's definitely clear that these boho Brooklynites are meant to be. Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke's relationship timeline is seriously swoon-worthy, and luckily, it's a very different love story than the one shared by Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn in Season Three of You.
He may be best known as "Lonely Boy" Dan Humphrey and the twisted Joe Goldberg, but Badgley is actually a musician himself, serving as the frontman of Brooklyn-based indie band MOTHXR. As Brooklyn dwellers and music lovers, Kirke and Badgley certainly share a lot in common, including two children. In August 2020, the two welcomed their first child together, making Cassius (Kirke's 11-year-old son from a previous relationship) a big brother.
Here is the timeline of Badgley and Kirke's relationship from the very beginning.
Us Weekly sent out a new couple alert in the summer of 2014 when Badgley and Kirke were spotted looking cozy while out-and-about in New York City. According to a source, the duo was no longer a new item at that point, but it's not clear how and when they first met. "They've been dating for awhile," the source said. "They have a number of mutual friends. It is a very mature and free relationship. Domino is a great girl for him, being a musician. Their interests align."
Kirke has admitted that she didn't initially think the relationship would be too serious. "I was sort of getting used to being a single mom, maybe a little too used to it," she told Hey Mama soon after marrying Badgley. "I had a really good thing with my kid and we were like this little team. 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."
A few months after Us Weekly broke the news about their relationship, Kirke attended a MOTHXR show and shared a pic of Badgley performing on Instagram. She captioned the photo, "A giant goddess and this guy ❤️ #mothxr."
After a very quiet courtship — during which Kirke occasionally shared some photos of Badgley on her Insta, like when he visited her doula practice or when they attended the Women's March in NYC together — they made things official. According to E! News, the two hit up a courthouse in Brooklyn on Feb. 27, 2017 to say "I do" in a small civil ceremony. Afterwards, the couple and their wedding party headed over to Brooklyn's Maison May Dekalb restaurant to celebrate.
Badgley and Kirke followed up their civil ceremony with a second, more elaborate ceremony on June 24, 2017. The outdoor wedding took place in upstate New York under a tent on Kirke's mother's property in Lake Waccabuc.
When Hey Mama asked about her decision to have a second wedding, Kirke explained, "My first wedding was more of a civil ceremony with about 40 people that [were] able to join us in a pinch. The second one was more planned. Two hundred people came from all over the world. It just felt necessary to have both." Some of those 200 guests included A-listers like Zac Posen, Debra Messing, and Heidi Klum (but sadly, no Gossip Girl alums).
Though Badgley rarely opens up about his relationship on social media, he did share a pic of Kirke's forthcoming album, Beyond Waters, soon after their second wedding. "@dominokirke has released an album of gorgeous music that will stand the test of time," he captioned the photo. The supportive partner previously tweeted about Kirke's music in 2015 after she released a new single, "Ordinary World."
The couple made a rare public appearance at the 2019 U.S. Open Tennis Championships in Sept. 2019, which they attended with Kirke's son, Cassius. Just a few weeks later, People published an interview with Badgley, where he (very uncharacteristically) opened up about his romance with Kirke and how his Bahá'í faith influenced his relationship.
"I don't think I could truly value human love until I developed divine love," Badgley explained to People. "[Domino and I] very much had a romantic beginning, and I think that you discover in marriage that what sustains a marriage for decades — there are less and less people who can tell us this — but I think it has something to do with [divine] love."
A month later, Kirke noted how naturally Badgley took to the role of step-dad. "He doesn't have to be 'dad' so he can have more fun with [Cassius]," she told Us Weekly in Oct. 2019. "It's really nice. The step-parent thing is definitely unchartered territory for me 'cause I didn't grow up with one, but... he takes care of him really well."
Badgley got mushy once again for Kirke's 36th birthday towards the end of 2019. He posted a cute video of Kirke in the snow on Instagram along with a super-sweet birthday message.
"Happy birthday, Dom," he wrote. "A super-brief review of your invisible qualities: A truly radiant soul, you seem to spark alight almost everyone you meet, like a 99% success rate. It's really impressive, and quite mysterious. You encourage others to be honest, and brave, and gentle, and expansive. Your great capacity for empathy is obvious, something anyone can get warm by like a glowing stove. Your desire to be of service to others is miraculous. It is in your DNA. In pictures as a very young child, you exude it — a great care and sweetness; an invitation. You make others happy by you. For me, it is a joy to witness you when you are happy. For you, I always hope to be a source of joy. I’m really glad we're married." My heart!
In a now-private and deeply emotional Instagram post, Kirke shared that — after two miscarriages — she and Badgley were expecting their first child together. "When I was pregnant at 25, I knew nothing," Kirke wrote in the lengthy caption. "I had no community. I dove in blissfully unaware about birth and its mysteries. Now, with 10 years worth of experience to pull from, I treasure my birth community and the knowledge I have."
On Sept. 20, 2020, Kirke announced (in another now-private Instagram post) that she’d given birth to a baby boy 40 days prior, on Aug. 11. Kirke shared the wonderful news with a picture of the placenta on a piece of paper, captioned, “His heart shaped home.”
In October, she also posted an adorable shot of Badgley and their teensy new babe looking lovingly at one another.
Having spent much of the last year outside of the spotlight, Kirke and Badgley were spotted at the beach in Aug. 2021 with their little one, reportedly named James, in tow.
In an Aug. 31 interview with Vulture, Badgley shared that he and Kirke have spent their time watching Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso of late, preferring heartfelt comedies to high-stakes dramas. (And no, he hasn’t watched the Gossip Girl reboot yet.)
“The truth is I barely watch anything,” he told the magazine. And when he and Kirke do watch television, he says they “want to watch something that’s hopeful.”
And — though it may not be the most hopeful — we can’t wait to watch Badgley play a very different kind of husband and father in Season Three of You.
This article was originally published on
