Guys Talk Accents, Amours and Overcoming 'Gayface'

"It's like he was genetically bred to be a teen star." That's Penn Badgley, marveling to the November issue of Details about the inherent dreaminess of his oh-so-pretty "Gossip Girl" co-star Chace Crawford.

But it turns out those lush eyebrows and sensitive-guy side-swept bangs are a heavy cross to bear.

Good sport that he is, Crawford "cheerfully" ticks off some of the barbs that have been aimed his way: "Model turned actor, dime a dozen, eye candy, doesn't know what he's doing ... and Perez Hilton says I have 'gayface.' So on top of everything else, I have to overcome gayface."

Speaking of which, he once again laughs off those rumors that he and cast mate -- and roommate -- Ed Westwick are anything more than pals, explaining that their decision to move in together was financially and aesthetically motivated.

"I thought, 'Let's pool our money and get something good,'" says Chace, 23. "I didn't even know if the show was going to last."

Westwick, who was spotted spit-shining Drew Barrymore's tonsils last week, has been equally dismissive of the talk, although he does confess a deep, dark secret to the magazine.

The British actor, 21, reveals that he kinda sorta modeled the American accent for his scheming, lady-killing alter ego Chuck Bass on the guy who played the bow-tied straight man to Will Smith's cucumber-cool character on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."

"Ummmm ... a little bit, maybe. I don't know, man, there's a slight thing in Carlton Banks, that kind of uber-preppy, that I did pick up on," he admits with what the mag describes as "comic embarrassment."

As for Badgley, 21, he may not have the limpid baby blues or dramatically flaring nostrils of his co-stars, but he does have a girlfriend in leading lady Blake Lively, whom he's been coupled up with since early this year.

He describes the collision of their on- and off-screen relationship as "wonderful and also something to grapple with," but refrains from going into detail.

"You have to draw the line somewhere," he figures. "I'm fine talking about my family and personal history, because it humanizes you. But I have to save some s--- for me."

Penn, whom the mag reports has been ordered to shave down his thicket of chest hair so as not to alarm the delicate teen demographic, then opts for the humanizing thing, opining, "One of the things that's been my bread and butter with all these television shows I've done is that I don't give a s---."

He adds that not unlike his humorless "GG" character Dan Humphrey, "People who don't know me that well often think I'm a bit of an ass---- and take myself too seriously."

What they don't know, the actor continues, is "that I don't take anything seriously. And that just because I'm not smiling doesn't mean I'm not happy. Chace is one of the most positive guys I've ever met, and you can see that in the way he walks around. I'm also like that -- but you can't see it."

Not that he's complaining.

"The truth is, we all wanted this," says Badgley. "We're living amazing lives that so outweigh the negative s---. To do what we do? Sometimes I feel like we're cheating the rest of the world."

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