Who Is Domino Kirke, Penn Badgley's Wife and the Cofounder of a Pregnancy Care Center?

Penn Badgley, musician and star of Gossip Girl as well as the popular series You on Lifetime, has been quiet about his love life in recent years. He has quietly been with Domino Kirke since 2014 and rarely comments publicly about his wife. So who is Kirke, and what do we know about their relationship?

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Penn Badgley, best known as Dan from Gossip Girl and Joe from You, has stayed quiet about his love life in recent years. He most famously dated his Gossip Girl costar Blake Lively and Zoe Kravitz—but in 2014, Badgley settled down with Domino Kirke, and rarely says anything in public about his now-wife (the two married in 2017). Kirke, a doula and singer, has more than one showbiz connection—she's also the sister of Jemima Kirke.

Here's what we do know about the low-key couple, who are expecting their first child.

In an Instagram post in early February, Kirke opened up about her two losses that had preceded her current pregnancy. "It takes everything I’ve got to detach lovingly from the losses I’ve been present for and be in my own experience," she wrote.

She also posted two photos to her Instagram Story that referenced the pregnancy—one showed her glowing and visibly pregnant in overalls, and the other showed her and Badgley in bed with their "first baby," their rescue pup.

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Kirke, who is English-American, has one famous sister you've probably already heard of: Girls star Jemima Kirke. Kirke's sister Lola is also an actress and appeared in Gone Girl. Their dad, Simon Frederick St. George Kirke, is a drummer from bands Free and Bad Company.

Kirke takes after her famous father and is a singer. As reported in Bustle, Kirke has recorded music with Mark Ronson, and her work has been featured by Lena Dunham. 

For her last album release in 2017, Beyond Waves, Badgley was sweet and supportive on social media:

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Kirke doesn't talk much about her private life on social media, but she does talk about her work as cofounder of Carriage House Birth, which provides various services for pregnant women. Vogue called her a "triple threat": musician, mom, and doula. 

Nobody knows exactly how they met, but Us Weekly spotted the pair first in July 2014. "They've been dating for awhile. They have a number of mutual friends. It is a very mature and free relationship," according to a source at the time. "Domino is a great girl for him, being a musician. Their interests align." 

The couple don't pose for red-carpet photos very often and aren't often snapped together on the street (Badgley has said he's not a fan of social media, and clearly prioritizes his privacy.) Kirke mentions Badgley only sparingly on her social media, occasionally making sweet posts for events like Badgley's birthday:

In a civil ceremony at a Brooklyn courthouse, Kirke and Badgley married in front of family and friends. Badgley's bandmate Darren Will posted a sweet photo, calling them "a couple beautiful people."

Kirke's sister Lola shared a sweet shot of the sisters and Cassius, Domino's son from a previous relationship.

Sister Jemima also got in on the action, to hilarious effect:

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Technically, the couple had two celebrations, according to Badgley: The quiet courthouse wedding, and one enormous reception, courtesy of Kirke's mother.

In a rare interview on the subject, Badgley told People that his path to spirituality led him to Kirke. “I don’t think I could truly value human love until I developed divine love,” he said. “[Domino and I] very much had a romantic beginning, and I think that you discover in marriage that what sustains a marriage for decades—there are less and less people who can tell us this—but I think it has something to do with [divine] love.”

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Katherine J. Igoe
Contributor

Katherine’s a Boston-based contributor at Marie Claire who covers fashion, culture, and lifestyle—from “Clueless” to Everlane to news about Lizzo. She’s been a freelancer for 11 years and has had roles with Cosmopolitan and Bustle, with bylines in Parents, Seventeen, and elsewhere. It’s “I go to dinner,” not “Her huge ego,” but she responds to both.