Penn Badgley Clarifies Comment About Being Molested By Fans

Penn Badgley is speaking out to clarify a comment he made about being molested by overzealous fans.

The 31-year-old actor brought it up in an interview with The Daily Beast and the outlet mentioned that Penn was “thoughtful and cautious when discussing” the subject. He also acknowledged “the privilege that being a man, not to mention a white man, affords him.”

Now, Penn has released a new statement after the quote went viral.

“The point of my comment was not to confess a personal trauma. I was speaking about the way emotional and physical boundaries are violated for someone in the public eye, who is seen as an object of desire,” Penn told People.

“Depending on so many factors, it can range from conscious abuse to something very unconscious — and that is the point I was making, cautiously, in the context of a conversation about fanaticism and cultural norms which support manipulative or abusive behavior,” he added. “These are the same norms which support predatory men, but not exclusively predatory men. They affect, and infect, us all.”