Joe Goldberg may be looking for love on the west coast in season 2 of Netflix’s You, but the actor who portrays him, Penn Badgley, already found it in Brooklyn. On Tuesday, Badgley penned a sweet birthday post to wife Domino Kirke, though some fans couldn’t help but note the similarities between Badgley’s kind words and Joe’s internal You monologues.
“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,” Badgley wrote of his wife in honour of her 36th birthday. “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.”
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He continued:
“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.”
Look, not for nothing, but it’s not totally different from the many poetic ways Joe described Beck (Elizabeth Lail) upon meeting her in the bookstore. Fans noticed.
“Dom, blink once if you need help,” joked one fan in the comments section.
“Don’t you dare take her to mooneys joe!” another wrote.
“Very joe like,” wrote a third.
The perceived similarities probably bother Badgley more than anyone. The actor is hellbent on reminding fans that while his You character may have his charms, Joe Goldberg is a murderer who preys on women.
“The whole point [of Joe] is that he’s meant to garner a conflicted reaction. I don’t see him as a portrayal of a real person, I see him as a representation of the part of us that identifies with him,” Badgley explained to Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on TODAY in 2018. “The part of us that is a troll, that is victim-blaming, that is privileged and blind. We’re meant to identify with him.”
Badgley’s real love story is way sweeter than Joe’s obsession with every woman he fixates on. Kirke, a musician and professional doula, is the sister of Girls star Jemima and Mozart In the Jungle’s Lola Kirke. She reportedly began dating Badgley in 2014, following her split from musician Morgan O’Kane, with whom she shares son Cassius Riley. Kirke and Badgley wed in 2017 in Brooklyn, followed by a star-studded celebration.
At their wedding party, the very hip couple took the stage to sing “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” together, along with Shirley Reeves from '60s girl group The Shirelles.
Given the birthday post, the obvious answer to whether Badgley will love Kirke tomorrow is a resounding “yes” — and in far less obsessive ways than Joe Goldberg has ever proclaimed to love anyone.
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