Sean Penn is currently promoting his book, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, as well as serving as an international ambassador for ham. That’s why he’s giving interviews this week, for better or for worse. Penn did Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast this week and Maron asked him about the co-parenting situation he has with his ex-wife Robin Wright. Keep in mind that Penn has always been salty as hell about Robin post-divorce. So now what we have some super-salty ham drama.
Sean Penn is opening up about his relationship with his ex-wife, Robin Wright. The duo, who divorced in 2010 and share two children — Dylan, 26, and Hopper, 24 — “don’t have a lot of conversation,” Penn told comedian Marc Maron on his WTF Podcast.
“We don’t not get along,” he added. “We have very separate relationships with our kids at this point and it seems to work better that way because they are making their own decisions. As it turned out she and I did not share the same ethical views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children.”
Penn, 57, did not elaborate on their parenting differences, but he did note that his relationship with his two children is “going great.” He added, “They’re amazing people. They’re both acting and modeling, an industry that I’m not very interested in but they seem to have fun with it.” While the actor said he’s no longer interested in show business, he noted, “I’m supportive of whatever my kids do that keeps them happy and healthy, period.”
As for his love life, Penn said he hasn’t given up on finding the right person. “I’m never going to take a position that I’ve closed off to love,” he said. “I think people falling in love with each other is a great, great thing.” However, he added, “More and more, I do find that the relationships become pretty transactional and it’s not easy to run into somebody that makes life better the next day for you. But if I did, I’d grab it.”
Re: transactional relationships… I mean, I’ve always suspected that he spends times with hookers and escorts – no judgment – so of course that’s going to skew someone’s view on transactional relationships. His last big-time serious relationship was with Charlize Theron, and it ended so badly that she ghosted him and refused to ever speak to him or see him again after *something* happened. As for what he says about Robin… “she and I did not share the same ethical views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children…” I take that to mean that Robin has more of the long-view of parenting, that her kids will pull away for a while but they will boomerang back and it’s just important to let them grow into adulthood. God knows how Sean sees it though.
Sean was also on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and he smoked two cigarettes in the middle of the interview. He was also very low-energy, because he was still feeling the effects of an Ambien.
“Sean Penn” was trending for hours on Twitter after this interview. People had really strong feelings about him lighting up on a late-night talk show. I’m old enough to remember when people smoked all the time on talk shows and in TV shows and movies. It is jarring though – I haven’t seen anyone do this on TV in a long-ass time.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, screencaps courtesy of ‘The Late Show’.
He looks like death. I’m happy for Robin that she got out. Gross.
I agree. I also would kick his ass off of the show for smoking. So self absorbed he actually looks like he absorbed all his flesh from the inside to feed his ego.
Surely the Late Show being filmed in NY, it’s illegal to smoke there as it’s considered a place of work?
Ugh, and here we are talking about it. Playing right into that ego. He’ sooooo edgy.
There are old blinds or maybe just old rumors he assaulted Robin, which I found after the story of Madonna being tied up and beaten by him became news again. (Which Madonna now denies…)
Seriously, when will #metoo come for Sean Penn? When do his two Oscars and supposed humanitarian work or whatever get an asterisk?
He thinks he is Hemingway. Yuck. You are nothing compared to Danielle Steele. Please go away.
What a pretentious asshole. No wonder Charlize Theron ghosted him, although I have always wondered what possessed her to take up with him in the first place.
Why would #Metoo come for him? Madonna still loves him and is friends with him. Robin Wright, from her own mouth, has never talked about being beaten up by him. So if his wives aren’t asking for him to be looked at as far as #metoo, and no ex-girlfriends, like Charlize, Petra, Scarlett, are either, why would #metoo come into play? You have to have a victim talking about it.
He basically held back her career. She was on a hot streak after Princess Bride and a few years later, Forrest Gump. However she had to take a back seat to his career so any momentum she may have had was cut short in order to please the ham.
I’m glad she got out. The daughter may be fine but I don’t get that same sense with the son.
He is clearly a smooth talker, I think he has dated Charlize, Petra Nemcova, ScarJo, Robin, Madonna – a bunch of famous blonde women from the the 1980s on, and I can see if you had daddy issues (not trivializing them because they are for real) or other issues you might be taken in by him.
Charlie’s dad abused her mom and I wonder if subconsciously Penn reminded her of her dad. Our brains often go to what is familiar, even when it is messed up.
Have you seen the photos of Sean and Robin arguing with the daughter’s boyfriend on the streets? Looked super intense…
She talked about her career in an interview. She said during that period she turned down a lot of roles because they didn’t interest her and so would rather be home with the kids. I think the roles offered her were typecasting her after Princess Bride and Forest Gump. She wanted challenging roles. Then there several were exciting roles she really wanted after Gump and she was turned down for them. During the Gump period she had turned down the chance to be on the cover of Vanity Fair promoting Forest Gump She said after not getting a couple of roles she really wanted, she was told if she had done the Vanity Fair cover promoting Forest Gump, maybe it would have been different,
.
Sean is a creep, but I don’t think she is the type that is completely controlled at all.
It’s hard to imagine what women find attractive about this man
A ham attached to a neck, walking about in broad daylight.
Guess is he a “bad boy” in Hollywood. In normal world he wouldn’t be bad, he would be that weird dude that hangs out in the mall parking lot when high school lets out.
I mean he could be attractive looks-wise if he didn’t have the personality of a sentient cigarette shaking a permanent baseball bat at the world. Ugh.
Is he still with Vincent D’onofrio’s daughter?
Maybe Vincent D kicked his ass for that? Otherwise this is the first I ever heard about it and it’s full of ew.
Clearly that was “transactional.”
Well if his expectation is someone to make life better for HIM, it’s no wonder he sucks so hard at relationships. You have to be willing to see to others’ happiness as well, but he seems like a taker if I’ve ever seen one
Yeah, that comment, right? He made it very clear why relationships don’t work with him. He sees them as “How can you make me happy?” Also, falling in love and being in a relationship are not the same thing.
This comment rings so true!
I mean, ideally both people are happy in a relationship, but I have a feeling this man is just a miserable person who drags everyone down with him. Clearly he seems to think that giving something to someone else to make them happy is “transactional.”
ugh, he’s so gross in both personality and looks. I don’t understand how Scarlett and Charlize were interested in him. I’d imagine they found him intellectual, but I just find him pretentious. ugh ugh ugh.
Welp, this is Hollywood we’re talking about…doesn’t take much to pass as an “intellectual” 😛
He used to be intelligent. He used to be charming. And he was talented. But booze and drugs and lack of self awarenes, not a good combo. He had so many chances. How very Depp of him
although I don’t think that saying their views on parenting differ is talking shit about her parenting? if he gave specifics, maybe.
It was def shade. You don’t bring up ethics unless you’re hinting that yours are better. With his work, admittedly extensive, with the Haiti earthquake survivors I can see him thinking he is a paragon of virtue. Some people can do great things for humanity but are incapable of treating actual individuals with love and respect.
Agreed. By using that one word, “ethical,” in front of “views,” he definitely threw shade at her. Big time.
what’s interesting is that Robin is equally, if not even more, virtuous in the charity department, just that she’s not calling the press to take photographs of her carrying supplies on her bare shoulders every time she does something. She’s been quietly yet consistently helping abused women in Africa. Quietly, as charity should be done when is not just self serving celebrity PR, as I’ve always thought it is for Penn.
Wasn’t it said by somebody that Sean Penn took a fishing boat out during the flood of New Orleans, and the boat was full of film crew filming people struggling and drowning and didn’t do anything to save them because filming it was more lucrative for him. He’s a douche thru and thru. Don’t kid yourselves about what he does for Haiti. It’s just a way to scam the government with large donations that actually come from borrowed money with a huge tax break that they get back and keep for themselves.
duh…like the kings of egomaniacs and soapbox enthusiast Sean Penn would imply that his ethics, on whatever not only parenting, aren’t better, smarter and more illuminated than anyone else’s.
What I’m not sure is if those different views are about what Kaiser says, to let adult children make their own mistakes as opposed to be more controlling? present? ….I’m not sure but “controlling” goes right with “Penn”.
But their kids are 24 and 26 so I take it as he’s probably b*tching about her having a new life with her French husband and implying she’s abandoning her kids?.
“he’s probably b*tching about her having a new life with her French husband and implying she’s abandoning her kids?”
Bingo.
I can definitely see that. I can see him trying to force his way into her life by claiming they need to “co-parent” their adult children. She probably sees right through that and is having none of it, so we have him publicly taking swipes at her and insinuating she’s a bad mom. He can’t stand that he can no longer control her.
Wasnt there some drama with their twenty something year old daughter recently? Trying to remember what it was about but you can find photos of a curious family incident.
The daughter and boyfriend are sitted between Sean and Robin on a curb. Sean has his phone out showing the guy pics of something in a VERY confrontational way and his daughter is weeping. The speculation was that Sean had intercepted a tabloid story by buying out photos of some shady activity. What the shady activity was is the question. Hard drugs maybe? Cop pics of her bruises maybe? Could be that the bf was cheating but doubt that would merit a forced roadside meeting with mum and dad.
It looked like her parents literally had to ambush them on the street, which implies she had gone radio silent and was avoiding them.
Anyway, I think…….Sean Penn may actually be….right here? I suspect he is saying that they shouldnt take a passive role. I know both children have “jobs” but lets not pretend that these d list barely working models and actors can sustain a Hollywood kids lifestyle. I’m sure they still get a monthly check from mum and/or dad. Maybe thats what he wants to cut.
Its hard with kids in their 20s and yes its a sign you were both not very good parents if you still have to step in to discipline at that age but I agree with him that you must step in hard if they are engaged in something harmful.
Yeah, the daughter wasn’t actually there though. It was Sean, the boyfriend and Robin, and Robin was the one who started crying. They all hugged and made up in the end, so I’m not sure the boyfriend did anything terrible. Seemed like they were talking to him about issues with their daughter.
At what point do they become responsible for their own lives and choices, though? I come from a family where that “hands-on” approach backfired spectacularly because the child in question become so reliant on Mom and Dad cleaning up their major mistakes that they never got to learn from them.
How well you parented your children is frankly negligible when it comes to the decisions they make in their independent lives. People can be perfect parents and still raise children who do incredibly stupid shit in their twenties. Deciding when “disciplining” them becomes a matter of exerting control you don’t really have versus letting them face the consequences of their own actions is never an easy call. The problem with Sean Penn’s statement isn’t whether or not he was right in that specific situation, it’s the suggestion that his approach is inherently superior to Robin’s.
Thanks, my memory was vague on it and I didnt want to dig through archives.
And the photos he was showing the guy as his neck veins were popping out? Was that mystery solved?
The daughter’s issues are rumoured but the son is a confirmed recovering meth addict. The son has also talked about his parents breakup being awful and full of drama. No conscious uncoupling here. So I have no doubt the family dynamics are complicated.
@Veronica Maybe given their circumstances, his approach is better? If for instance she is still sending them money which is fueling their drug habits and he wants her to parent by using the money as leverage to get them sober, then surely he is right. If she lets them live with her but refuses to hold them accountable for their living expenses, that is killing their hustle and he is right.
@Krill: it might be, but then again we don’t know if the parenting responsibility was equally distributed in the first place. It’s easy to be the parent that’s “hands on” when you haven’t already been fighting through your childrens’ issues for years.
Penn is a notoriously unreliable source, the only thing you can take at face value with him is that he’ll only tell you half of the story.
@Krill Even if that parenting scenario were true, it’s not what is motivating his swipes at Robin. It’s just another example of him gaslighting her. She gave him two decades of her life and bore his children and he publicly claimed she never really loved him. That is so, so typical of an emotional abuser. Now he’s implying her parenting isn’t as “ethical” as his. That’s another go-to for emotionally abusive men. If he’s making these comments in public, what has he been saying to her in private?
I agree with Veronica. At the ages his kids are you really need to just be a soft place to land if things go really bad (eg meth addict bad). In a normal household without Penn levels of drama there’s no way your average parent should be taking on anything with a kid that age.
Ugh, he’s SO GROSS. On every level, in every way.
He’s salty because she recently got married again to a hot Frenchman and she’s happy without him. Of course he has to say something negative about her, he always does. Remember when he said that she never loved him? after she stayed by his hammy ass for 20 years? now he’s saying that he’s a better parent than she is, because of course he’s implying that his “ethics” on parenting are better than hers. Sure. After she put her career on hold to raised their kids mostly alone in Northern California while he was wh*ring around and thinking about his own ambition and awards in LA. The nerve of this assh*le is endless.
Re: Northern California. The “raise them away from LA” thing has become a pet gossip interest of mine (along with “get married and move to Paris!!…for a year or so). I have no doubt LA is tricky as hell but Hollywood is a state of mind. They raised their kids away from Los Angeles and both ended up in show business and at least one with a serious drug problem. Countless stories like this. LA is not the real problem here. Check the mirror, celebs.
It was pretty clear which parent had the burden of “raising them away from Hollywood”. It would be very Penn-like to blame Robin for resuming her career.
@Mia
That is true to a certain extent. But LA is full of bootlickers and opportunists who would do anything to get close to famous people through their kids. The more famous and prestigious the more they try. There are more temptations because people will give them things and let them do things no matter if they are underage. It is a town obsessed with fame.
If a teen goes through a rebellious or acting out stage, it is much worse, and people are waiting to take advantage of them. Their home life wasn’t stable, and though Penn is said to love his kids he is dysfunctional and abusive, so undoubtedly they witnessed and saw this. Along with his drug abuse. They are privy to gossip and rumors about their parents.
Some kids have great parents who are involved but getting out of LA for the sake of family isn’t a bad idea for some.
Did anyone else notice the trembling? He is not well…
Yes. He looks seriously unwell and sounds it too.
trembling and shaking in a long rumored functioning coke addict? pst….
His hair tho…
It’s baffling to me how this guy had such cool woman…..I can only think of Charlize and Robin at the moment, not his slave Madonna who he treated horribly. Must be hung like a donkey because it isn’t his joyous personality. The cig hanging out of his pie hole says it all. Creepy.
He also has the face of a donkey’s rear end…….
I took transactional to mean relationships where someone has something to gain. He seems the type to suspect women of being with him for fame. One, I think he is trying to shade Charlize, which proves he thought he was the one elevating her profile. Two, it seems that deep down he must realize he has nothing healthy to contribute to a relationship. He would be correct.
He has a raging coke problem and some kind of personality disorder. He is mentally and physically abusive, so I am glad to see Charlize and Robin escaped.
He is a champion at negging.
Sadly their kids are a mess but how could it be otherwise?
Really? It is amazing to me that someone his age could have a Coke problem. It’s so exhausting on your body to stay up late.
Magnolia: Are you a Hollywood agent or something of that nature. You always seem to have the inside scoop on just about everyone. I want your job!
Lol No I am not an agent. I would have to hate myself to do that job. I have been around it and connected to it in various ways for years. 🙂
YES. You laid it all out nicely and this was my interpretation as well.
He thinks that Charlize gained from being with him? How? She is a bigger star than he is. Most of his famous exes are. Scarjo and obviously Madonna are.
I firmly believe Charlize finally saw him for the armpit of humanity he really is and bolted. He still can’t forgive her for that and, without exaggeration, I don’t believe she should ever be alone with him for any reason. think Robin stayed because she’s probably a fixer and he played on that. When will the tortured artist manchild act stop working on women? Ugh.
People keep thinking about Charlize and forgetting the string of 20 something’s and early 30s he keeps chasing. Vincent D’Onofrio’s daughter, Minka Kelly, the girl who was on 2.5 Men for a while, and of course the woman who did the El Chapo interview (Kate Castillo). He’s aging rapidly and keeps chasing young women, who are clearly interested in what he can do for them more than his winning personality or great love affair( big shock there)
He usually is mouthy right after a breakup. I was assuming he was talking about Vince’s daughter, an aspiring young actress. They don’t seem to be together at the moment.
In his warped mind, he probably decided Charlize dumped him after his moviemaking flopped with her in it. He probably rationalizes it that way, instead of looking in the mirror. He used to keep a lot of guns, until he got rid of them for Charlize. I wonder if he is back to having a lot of guns in his home again.
Yuck. There’s nothing attractive or appealing about him. Someone having a cigarette dangling out of their mouth is a HUGE turn off
If you’re into old movies, that’s the only positive I can conjure up. Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Bad Boys which was sort of a cult classic I enjoyed. Other than that, I stand by my original post up thread.
Sounds like Robin is living her life and he’s hanging with the kids. I see her point of view because she was probably on her own youngish, say 18-21, like the rest of us. But I see his point of view too because many of the kids that age today are really not ready, and certainly not for today’s world. The parents I see are hovering until the kids are 28 or 29 now. And it’s not all the parents fault. The kids want it that way. They want the support. Not to mention someone to co sign a lease if they are lucky.
If a parent is still hovering around at 28 or 29 they’re doing their child a disservice. I say this as a parent who finally had to stop hovering over my 24 year old. My “support” was stunting her growth.
Co-sign.
I’m the oldest and was pretty independent from 18, meaning I went away to college, came home on a few breaks, but mostly lived on my own, made my own choices and spending money (my parents did pay for classes, bless them). My parents hovered over my brother because they thought he needed it more. He’s now in his early 30s and can’t manage money because my mom and dad are always there with more. He can’t make grown up decisions without someone telling him what to do. As we speak he’s preparing to move back with his wife and family to a place on my parents’ property because he has no direction and can’t figure out what to do with his life. There’s gotta be some cord-cutting at some point.
Hovering over your adult children well into their late twenties can paralyze them.
I am impressed you recognized it and corrected it. I haven’t known many parents whoever admit it much less change.
I’m sorry but I don’t necessarily think it’s that the kids want it that way or want support. Sometimes they know that there is an unstable parent and they are keeping close out of feelings of responsibility for that parent’s wellbeing. Case in point, a hover parent I know who actually attempted suicide over a perceived falling out with the kid when the kid tried to cut the cord by moving out to live in the college dorm instead of commuting from home. Kid is in their mid 20s now and the hovering is just as bad, as an outsider who knows the situation I see that the kid is basically parenting the parent.
Lol. People think this selfish douche wants to be involved in the minutae of his kids life? Really? I think this is about a very specific situation. And it has to do with his daughter and her boyfriend. Google images from last year of him and Robin confronting them on the streets. His pointed reference about supporting them when they are “happy and HEALTHY” is for me the dead giveaway. His daughter is in something dodgy and it seems he and Robin cant agree how to deal with it.
I am also 99% sure that those kids are still getting cash from their folks. They are nothing like Colin Hanks. The daughter is 26 so the modelling career is done. Not that she made waves, she hasnt had a cover in years. Shes gone into acting but her only notable film was in a Kevin Spacey film who was guess what? Her mummys friend and co-worker at the time.
It’s a bit tricker in this case. Their son is a recovering meth addict (that’s not rumour, that’s confirmed) and their are rumours about their daughter having problems as well. That’s rumour. The interviews with their son are interesting. The family was messy and probably still is.
I think that’s fair, but I don’t think it’s healthy to be making shady comments in public. Addicts generate enough snide drama without their parents contributing.
The daughter wants a job that she needs to use her parents’ connections for: acting & modeling. The son credits his dad’s tough love for getting himself clean. My take: Robin was the primary parent for a long time, and is burned out on some pretty serious issues. Penn is now really hands on.
I don’t know what serious issues you think Robin could be burned out on, but for Penn is too late to be hands on when your kids are already adults, blame the primary parent for the work done and you’ve been an absent parent for most of their upbringing. I have no doubt they’re all messy but I think this is Penn subtly throwing shade to her and reacting to Robin starting a new life with a new man possibly moving to France given her new husband is a fashion executive in Paris. He’s been talking sh*t about her for years after the divorce he seems unable to truly move on and let it go.
My take is that Robin was the parent who did the primary care, loved the kids, was there for them. But then when things went bad, she needed an angry a$$hole to yell, threaten, and intimidate the kids into behaving (because that isn’t her way and her way didn’t prevent the problems with their kids). There enters Sean.
When someone references “getting himself clean” it’s not a mystery what “serious issues” I’m referring to.
Robin started her career as a model before she landed Santa Barbara so yes she was on her own in the teens.
If the kids aren’t ready for real life in their 20s it’s their parents who have made it that way. Kids won’t feel the need to constantly call on mum and dad if mum and dad have adequately prepared them for being on their own. The only difference between now and us older ones is the style of parenting, kids aren’t any more or less of anything.
He’s just revolting, made worse by the fact he seems like a total narcissist.
I think he is worse. I think he is a sociopath. He is just one of the defective people. He has so much talent but is just not a good person, and he hurts people.
I have no trouble believing this, particularly since sociopaths are often highly intelligent and can pour on the charm when they choose to.
I could only make it 3 minutes into that video. Has he ever heard of a comb?
Wow. What a mess. He is a mess.
So edgy!!!
I’m not in love with acting, so I’m going to go on this talk show to get a few digs in at my ex to whine about her parenting before I lose the last bits of relevance and credibility I have left.
Where was his ethical parenting when his kid was shoving photographers and calling them racial slurs? I wonder who he might have learned that from?
Sean Penn clearly has no f*cks to give.
I know how he feels. Uranus into Taurus transition.
Salty ham just in time for Easter.
ahahhahhaaha
I can smell the stench of him just from the photograph.
I think he’s very handsome and a gifted acto HaHaHaHaHahaHa sorry just couldn’t finish the rest of the sentence.
The dude who was last dating a woman younger than his daughter is mad because the relationship was “transactional” huh? You mean women aren’t with you for your winning personality?
LOL, good one.
Perfect comment.
Please do not book Sean Penn onto Colbert’s show again. Please.
Sean neglects to state that he was not the stay at home parent during the children’s formative years. Robin knows her kids a lot better than Sean and I think he’s jealous of their relationship. Now that he has retired from his career he has time for his adult children. He thinks of himself as the “cool” parent, but he just showed up late for the party.
That stupid book title is as annoying as he is.
A man who talks shit about his ex long after the relationship ends, especially when there are children grown or not, is a personal red flag to me. Speaks to a certain bareness of spirit.
Immaturity as well. Everything relevant to his relationships with Dylan and Penn can be dealt with by talking to Dylan and Penn, but he’s still dragging their mother into it.
Bingo. Not only a red flag, but guys who do this are really exhausting in conversation. You instantly sense this animosity that you can kind of guess is not just about the ex, but about women in general.
So true.
Yes. He is misogyny personified.
Gross. Keep your cigarettes in the smoking area, your relationships with your adult children between you and them, and your comments about your ex between you and your therapist.
What a dick
Love his acting–he’s so talented–but what a douche in RL. And he’s always fancied himself far smarter than he actually is. SP = faux intellectualism at its Hollywood worst.
Yikes.
That’s the face of someone who is drinking, smoking and doing drugs, like an old rough, used up catchers glove.
Talented actor, but also such a douche.
Ambien is no joke. It will make you into an entirely diferent person.
Aren’t their kids in their 20s? My oldest is 23 and two states away at college. Of course I’m always here for him and we talk about once a week. I helped him get an apartment and sometimes send grocery gift cards, his dad helps him out as well on his end. But it’s hardly a matter of “raising” him anymore – he’s been raised. So I don’t get why Penn is even speaking on this, seems like just gaslighting to me. His father, my ex-husband, while on friendly terms really don’t even speak that much, maybe once or twice a year. Frankly, I’d think he’d lost his marbles if he started going around talking about my ‘parenting technique’ with a 23-year-old young man; but, then, Sean Penn probably has lost his marbles, so there’s that.
‘Not as bad as Trump’