Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke nearly separated after experiencing two consecutive miscarriages.
While promoting his new book Crushmore on the Totally Booked with Zibby podcast on Monday, the You actor opened up about the toll the devastating losses took on his marriage.
"That sort of loss is really common, and we should - I don't know if talking about it alone is what we need. We at least need to start by talking about it more," he said. "And, of course, just to be clear, I'm speaking about miscarriages. They do happen all the time, and they can be really, really painful. Well, I would say they universally are painful. Maybe not everybody's fully allowed to feel that way."
Host Zibby Owens then read out an essay from Penn's book in which he describes a "dreadful memory" from the time period that sticks with him.
"This was our second loss together. A time when it did not feel as though the cycle would break. My wife and I neared separation as many do after losses like that," the excerpt reads. "Largely because we felt so isolated in a culture that doesn't talk much about these things or know how to support those going through it. Seeing our still baby in that tripped out black-and-white (sonogram) imagery is a dreadful memory I can't shake every time we go for a sonogram now."
Penn and singer Domino wed in 2017. They welcomed a son in August 2020 and twin boys last September.
In addition, the former Gossip Girl star is stepfather to Domino's son from a previous relationship.
And now that he's a father of four, Penn joked that he sometimes feels as if he's "drowning in children".
"It's funny because I wrote this before the twins were born, and now I feel like I am - and I mean this with love - but I feel like I'm drowning in children. So, it's harder to get in touch with that feeling of loss because my cup truly runneth over," the 39-year-old continued. "But I mean, especially for us, me at that point not having any biological children and my wife having her firstborn... that was a real inflection point. One of the greatest of my life and my wife's because we did near separation, and of course, we didn't give into the gravity of that and the sort of entropy of that. And here we are with three biological children since."
Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age is now available to purchase.
