Blake Lively says she was set up to date co-star Penn Badgley

It's no secret that celebrity relationships are more complicated than the ones we Average Joes pursue.

This was especially the case for Blake Lively and her ex-boyfriend Penn Badgley, and with Lively having claimed their starring roles on Gossip Girl ultimately led to their breakup.

Lively, now 35, said that she and her ex, who dated from 2007 to 2010, ultimately found it difficult to maintain their relationship because their personal and professional lives overlapped too much.

She said that while the pair initially tried to keep their romance quiet, when the studio, The CW, eventually found out, they were all for it because it 'fed' into the show's 'narrative'.

In case your memory needs refreshing, the show follows the antics of privileged teens living in New York who can't keep their personal lives a secret from an anonymous, ruthless blogger.

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"We were like, 'Oh no, that's exactly what they want.' They wanted us all to date," Lively said. "They wanted us all to wear the same clothes that we were wearing on the show. They wanted that because then it fed their whole narrative. People could buy into this world."

The pair's split was kept under wraps, so much so that producer Joshua Safran had absolutely no idea that it had happened until months later.

"The shocking thing was, I found out on the set of the season 2 finale that Blake and Penn had broken up months before. They kept it from everybody, which is a testament to how good they are as actors. Because they did not want their drama to relate to the show."

Thankfully, the pair have now happily moved on from their relationship, and Lively has been married to Ryan Reynolds, 46, since 2012.

Badgley, now 36, meanwhile, tied the knot with Domino Kirke, 39, in 2017.

This throwback comes after Badgley recently revealed that he requested to do less sex scenes in the current season of You out of respect for his wife.

Netflix

The actor said on an episode of Stitcher Studios' Podcrushed podcast: "I asked Sera Gamble, [the] creator, 'Can I just do no more intimacy scenes?' This was actually a decision I had made before I took the show. I don't think I've ever mentioned it publicly, but one of the main things is, 'Do I want to put myself back on a career path where I'm always [the] romantic lead?'"

He added: "Fidelity in every relationship - especially in a marriage - is important to me."