I have never really thought about Penn Badgley’s relationship status, but I found myself going into a deep internet hole to learn everything I could about Penn and his wife Domino Kirke. What sparked this? The other day, I saw a tweet that stopped me in my tracks:
https://twitter.com/ellieknope/status/1211461647732269057?s=20
Penn Badgley, of Gossip Girl and You fame, is married to a very cool Jewish doula?! Gasp!
Kirke, born in London to an English dad and an Iraqi Jewish mom, is a singer-songwriter and doula. She is Girls star Jemima Kirke’s older sister. She gave birth to a son, Cassius, in 2012. Penn is now stepfather to Cassius; the three of them live in Brooklyn.
Badgley, who is of the Bahá’i faith, explained to People, “I don’t think I could truly value human love until I developed divine love. [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.”
Ready for The Comprehensive and Unofficial Timeline of Domino Kirke and Penn Badgley’s Relationship Where We Try To Understand Their “Divine Love”?! Let’s go.
2013
June: Penn Badgley and Zoë Kravitz split after two years of dating. (Kravitz is now married to actor Karl Glusman. Here’s a timeline of their relationship.)
September: Penn and Zoë have a “PDA-filled getaway” to Rome, but do not get back together.
2014
After November 2013, but before April 2014, Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke start dating.
April 10: A Tumblr, badgely.tumblr.com, astutely finds Domino in this candid of Penn. So they’ve definitely been dating.
July 3: First tabloid coverage! Us Weekly reports “Penn Badgley Dating Domino Kirke, Sister of Girls Star Jemima Kirke: Picture.” According to a source, “They’ve been dating for awhile. They have a number of mutual friends. It is a very mature and free relationship. Domino is a great girl for him, being a musician. Their interests align.” Daily Mail picks up the news, writing, “Penn Badgley’s days as ‘Lonely Boy’ seem to be over.” (Which, six years later, has made me laugh out loud at my desk.)
“Awhile” makes us think they started dating late 2013.
July 9: Someone tweets she has run into them, and they are “babely“:
Pretty into the babely coupleship of penn badgley(?) and domino Kirke that I just ran into on Bedford ave
— Hannah Rose (@hannahrosie__) July 10, 2014
July 14: They are seen, again, out and about in NYC. He wears denim shorts, US Weekly includes him in a roundup of “PHOTOS: Celebs who love jorts!”
Thank you, @PeightonNews, for some photos:
Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke in West Village || July 13, 2014 pic.twitter.com/dFhohPfUUd
— Penn & Leighton News (@PeightonNews) July 14, 2014
September: Domino attends Penn’s band’s show (he sings for MOTHXR), and captions a picture of him with a RED HEART. It’s his first appearance on her Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/tWMo_VgQ4U/
December: They both attend the Millions March in NYC, a #BlackLivesMatter protest, and post about it. (They are not pictured in each other’s IGs; however, we can assume they likely went together.)
2015
February: Penn tweets about Domino! He shares her new single, “Ordinary World.”
New music from two salt of the earth electro-folks @DominoKirke and @LukeTempleMusic http://t.co/HB8J0YyPQi
— Penn Badgley (@PennBadgley) February 5, 2015
November: Domino wishes Penn a happy birthday on Instagram, posting a picture of him jumping off a cliff somewhere.
https://www.instagram.com/p/9h4OCOAQ5v/
November: They attend a fundraiser in NY, their only public outing of the year.
2016
July: Penn makes another appearance on Domino’s Instagram, at her doula practice, Carriage House Birth:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BH2ajOHAmo6/
2017
January: They attend the Women’s March in NYC together. Domino posts an insta of Penn protesting:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPjSgjCA-rn/
February: Penn looks cold on Domino’s Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQThWhOg1mK/
February 27: They get married at City Hall!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRCGWQ1hVNE/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWQZhDWhFhb/
March: Domino and Penn are, once again, spotted on the streets of NYC. Domino posts a very good photo of Penn, writing “Husband appreciation moment” !!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSCE2j_BMgA/
April: Not sure where they are here, but here’s a selfie:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSbZJPDBl9a/
June 24: They get married, again, in a ceremony with friends and family. Domino’s son goes up in the chair (cue Hava Nagila).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVx1hMfhISd/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV5JuX-hkwP/
Here’s her wedding dress:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV0Hd5jBTtj/
She changed for the party:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV6LEZ8BtDV/
Penn sings for Domino at the wedding.
Why two weddings? Domino explained, “My first wedding was more of a civil ceremony with about 40 people that was able to join us in a pinch. The second one was more planned. 200 people came from all over the world. It just felt necessary to have both.”
At the second wedding, Mariska Hargitay, Zac Posen, and Debra Messing were among the guests in attendance:
Here are more wedding photos in Vogue.
August: Penn appears in a music video for Domino’s song “Half Blood”:
September: Domino makes her first appearance on Penn’s Instagram; he encourages his followers to listen to her album. He’s so elusive!
He also tweets the same message:
.@DominoKirke has released a gorgeous record that will stand the test of time https://t.co/FXzOCQkQLA
— Penn Badgley (@PennBadgley) August 31, 2017
November: They go to Domino’s cousin’s wedding:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbnyXkzjbsH/
2018
February: They celebrate the wrap of Penn’s show, You:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfBsDd7jaNm/
February: Valentine’s day.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfM6RhhD8s9/
April: Here’s this photo!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BhTpy9YjyTx/
June: And this one!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkn11QzjRYw/?utm_source=ig_embed
2019
September: Domino, Penn, and Cassius attend the U.S. Open together:
December: Penn posts a surprisingly intimate post for Domino’s birthday (whom he calls Dom).
If you can’t read the caption, here’s the text: “Happy birthday, Dom. A super-brief review of your invisible qualities: 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. 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. 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.”
Divine love, people!
2020
February 10: Domino announces she is expecting their first child, in a moving Instagram post about pregnancy after miscarriages.
Updated February 10, 2020.
