Stay ConnectedPodcrushed — the podcast where Penn Badgley reads your middle school story — explores the heartbreak, anxiety and self-discovery of being a teenager. Hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, and Sophie Ansari bring you stories and conversations about middle school – from childhood crushes, to battles with body hair, to schoolyard scuffles. The results are sometimes awkward, sometimes heartwarming, and always relatable.
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Copyright: © 2025 Penn Badgley, Nava Kavelin, Sophie Ansari
Ben Platt (the actor and musician from Broadway plays like Dear Evan Hansen, films like Pitch Perfect, and new album Honeymind) takes a break from winning awards to drop by the pod. From the time he got fully pantsed in front of his crush, to his wholly uneventful coming-out moment with his parents, to his early successes as a young actor -- the lol's and lessons are plentiful.
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Lucas Bravo (Emily in Paris, FREEDOM) joins us from the green room of The Kelly Clarkson Show to talk about his early years bouncing between France and Italy, the fortuitous run-in he had in the middle of a busy street that led to his breakout role in Emily in Paris, and how a retreat into the mountains to get away from Hollywood ended up bringing him right back.
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Renowned medium Tyler Henry sits down to talk about death, the afterlife, and the mysterious lines of connection running between them. He shares about the time he shocked his teacher with an extremely specific premonition about her long-dead mother-in-law, the shocking circumstances of his mother's kidnapping, and his thoughts on the hosts' classic, super-chill-totally-normal question: "what is the purpose of life?"
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Actor, writer and director, James Morosini (It’s What’s Inside, The Sex Lives of College Girls) keeps it refreshingly honest this week— touching on the time he got catfished by his own father, and then wrote, starred in and directed a movie about it; the time he drove 6 hours for his first kiss only to learn he wasn’t on his crush’s hot list; and why becoming his town’s drug dealer to make friends backfired on him. We dive deep into his new movie, It’s What’s Inside, and his indie darling, I Love My Dad.
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Chase Stokes (Outer Banks, Uglies) joins us for a candid conversation spanning childhood sports injuries to living in his car in Hollywood. He hilariously recalls bombing his Stranger Things audition, only to later stand before those same execs to land his breakout role as John B in Outer Banks. Chase also shares how he was able to work up the courage to nail the most epic first kiss story we’ve ever heard.
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Demi Lovato (rockstar, popstar, and now Child Star director) sits down with Penn in New York City for an intimate and wide ranging conversation about her life -- from her time as a young actor on Barney, to her breakout role in Camp Rock as a teenager, to her stratospheric and storied music career in her adulthood.
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Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live, Mr. Throwback) finally visits the pod after 3 years of coordination. She shares her theories on why crushes are better than relationships, how her name made her impervious to rejection, and how she keeps it together when everyone around her is breaking. Ego may or may not regret opening up so much and blames it on Penn for taking the interview from his bed. You don’t want to miss this one!
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Questions, meet answers! In our fourth themed AMA of the season, the hosts answer *your* questions about all things family. From Nava's countless hours of bonding with her dad while watching "Match Game", to Penn's theories on healthy boundaries, to the time in Sophie's childhood where her dad had to angrily tell her not to spit on people -- everything is on the table.
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In our third themed AMA of the season, the hosts tackle *your* questions about the coming-of-age journey. Highlights include Penn discussing how his passion for dance buoyed his spirits during his formative years in LA, Nava reflecting on how her sense of humor ebbed (and then grew) through the pivotal moments of her life, and Sophie opening up about her early encounters with racial othering as a child growing up in the expat community in the Philippines.
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Today we're rerunning our episode with the effervescent Victoria Pedretti. From S2: "Our most requested guest of the season, Victoria Pedretti (YOU, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) drops by the pod… for the second time this season! Hear her thoughts on the commonalities of fame and bullying, iconic moments on YOU, and why it’s okay to acknowledge when things aren’t okay."
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