Penn Badgley confessed he was tricked by his former co-star Blake Lively into believing that Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler was his real father on the recent episode of his podcast, “Podcrushed.”
“I actually really admire people who do [pull pranks]. Somebody who may or may not be known for this — Blake Lively is, as I recall, very serious about pranks. She pulled a remarkable prank on me. It is crazy,” said the 37-year-old.
“I get an email, just like, ‘There’s this press item that we’re trying to kill, but just so you know, somebody thinks or Steven Tyler thinks he’s your dad…I don’t remember the phrasing but I remember being like… Didn’t even think about it for a moment because who in their right mind would think that that’s true,” shared the Gossip Girl star.
After being shocked from the rumor, he mentioned how, days later, his publicist addressed that the story was still buzzing. “Things escalated even further when he got a call from his manager and publicist, who let him know that Tyler was adamant about his supposed paternity.”
Penn further shared how he did not believe the gossip was true until he came forth to his mother on April Fool’s day. “My mom is so not an actress, so not a prankster either, and she’s upset…I’m like, ‘Mom why are you upset?!’ And then she takes a pause, that is like, the pause that sold me, and she goes, ‘Why do you think we moved out of Maryland?’” voiced Penn. “I’m telling you, for something like five to seven seconds, which is a long time, I was speechless and my world was rearranging. I was like, ‘Are you f**king kidding me? I am Steven Tyler’s son?’”
“I’d always wanted to play music. And I didn’t want to exploit the man, I definitely didn’t want to do that, but I was just like… That’s a long time to think that your whole life is reordered,” he joked.
Penn went onto say how he is gullible and never sees pranks heading his way. “Anyone who’s in my life and wants to pull a prank on me, go ahead and try, because I will never think about it,” he added. “I guess I’m trusting, I guess it says something good about me, I just never think that somebody’s trying to pull a prank. So, she had that going for her.”