Check out an advance preview from the fall 2009 issue of VMAN magazine featuring none other Penn Badgley in the story called ‘Not Just Another Teen Idol.’

Photographed by David Armstrong, the Gossip Girl stud opens up about the highs and lows of fame.

Some highlights:

Penn on his identity: “I’m not just a teen star idol. I’m not just that.”

Penn on the early days of his on-screen character: “They brought me on to be the awkward sort of confident nerd. In the beginning, they wrote to my ability to stutter very well – it’s a comedic kind of thing.”

Penn on being gawked at in public: “You barely have to be famous for people to scream when they see you.”

Penn on art immitating life on the set of Gossip Girl: “If you look at the lives we’re leading on the show and the lives we’re leading offscreen, I mean, they’re very f*cking similar. But it’s not weird, it doesn’t feel incestuous.”

Penn on being treated like a star: “In certain circles we’re treated like royalty. We’re treated like the Kennedys. We’re never going to be able to separate New York City from Gossip Girl and vice versa.”

Penn on his on-screen alter ego: “I’ve always tried to distance myself from the character. You don’t want people to think of you as this one guy.”