The Gossip Girl alum detailed his experiences as a child actor with what he described as “body dysmorphia.”

“I know I hated my body,” Penn said The Guardian in April 2025, “and just wanted another one.”

In response to the weight he gained after his parents’ divorce, he added: “There was just a time when, coming out of depression and isolation, I intentionally jumped into that world, but was also pushed into that world where the more conventionally beautiful I appeared to be, the more successful I was, the more value I could have.”

Despite the mental struggles, Penn credited his ability to persevere to his spirituality.

“That allowed me to push through the disillusionment and all the things that I was struggling with,” he explained, “and then come back to it all, but hopefully with some sort of inner transformation.”