Penn Badgley is clearing up misinformation surrounding his son’s name.
The You actor appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, May 1 and had a message for viewers.
“This is a very weird thing to say but our littlest who is four… everybody is like, ‘What on earth is he about to say?’” Badgley, 38, began, before revealing, “His name is not James.”
The Gossip Girl alum explained that the wrong name started off as incorrect detail on Wikipedia but it has proven hard to correct in the years since it first emerged. (Badgley shares his four-year-old son with wife Domino Kirke, with whom he is currently expecting twins. Badgley is also stepfather to Kirke’s son Cassius, 16, from a previous relationship.)
“The internet, on Wikipedia, for many years, his name was James. And we’d get it removed, it would go back. His name’s not James. And like, you know, I feel weird saying that but I just thought, well, you know what? I have a platform, why not clear the air?” Badgley continued.
Badgley said one of the reasons he was compelled to clarify this detail about his son was that even people close to him were getting it wrong after seemingly Googling it to double-check.
“There are people who are close to the family who haven’t seen us in a while, they send us a card and it says, ‘To all of us and James,’” he added.
Badgley, who is known to like to keep much of his personal life private, did not clarify what his son’s real name actually is, but explained the reason why he’s keeping the moniker close to his chest.
“His name, because he’s four, will remain undisclosed for as long as we can. It’s a good name though!” Badgley said.
However, the actor did share details about Kirke’s pregnancy and spoke about how excited the whole family is to welcome identical twin boys into the fold this summer.
“It’s thrilling, obviously. It’s such a nice dose of reality. Like every time I see the sonogram it just… it feels so good. So as an only child, that’s touching to see them together. They’re in there like it’s a hot tub. I actually have seen… there’s a sonogram of them almost like facing each other,” Badgley shared.
He continued: “I cannot fathom what it would be like to have someone with you there. You know what I mean? And I’m going to be parenting them? I’m going to have to raise them!”
Badgley added that Cassius and his four-year-old are also “very” excited about the twins’ upcoming arrival.
“The four-year-old we have — I just said it like he’s a bag or something — he’s stoked because he really wants to be a big brother,” Badgley said. “And the 16-year-old, he’s excited for us but he’s also like, ‘I’m going to leave in two years.’”
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