We knew this was coming, didn’t we? It’s actually weird to realize that Charlie Theron and Sean Penn have only been together for about 13 months. But it seems like longer, probably because Sean and Charlize went from “seriously, that’s happening?” to “wow, they’re really serious” very quickly. I knew it was serious last year when Sean had professional baby-proofers come to his Malibu home, preparing it for Charlize’s son Jackson. Sean has always seemed very hands-on with Jackson, and for whatever reason, Charlize and Jackson’s presences seem to have a calming effect on Sean. And now he’s making the whole thing official: Us Weekly says Sean has filed paperwork to adopt Jackson.
First comes engagement, then comes adoption! Sean Penn has filed to adopt his fiancée Charlize Theron’s 3-year-old son Jackson, sources reveal in the new issue of Us Weekly. And his bride-to-be couldn’t be more ecstatic.
“Sean always knew that to truly earn a place in Charlize’s heart, connecting with Jackson was one of the most important parts,” a pal close to the Gunman star, 54, tells Us.
The couple, who have been dating for over a year, got engaged while on a trip to Paris this past November. And while they haven’t secured a wedding date yet, they’re still planning on forever together.
“There is still talk of adopting again and giving Jackson a brother or a sister,” the insider adds of the husband-and-wife to-be.
Does this mean the kid will be Jackson Theron-Penn? I always liked the name Jackson Theron – it’s a really badass name for a little boy (or a fully grown man), and the hyphenate might ruin the poetry of the name. But I think they probably will go with Theron-Penn. And we just have to accept it. It also strikes me that this is the exact same path that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt followed. They were about a year (or so) into their relationship when Brad filed paperwork to legally adopt Maddox and Zahara, making them (officially and legally) Jolie-Pitts. And no, it doesn’t surprise me at all that Sean and Charlize are not going to get married before he adopts Jackson – I really and truly believe Charlize when she says she’s not into marriage.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
I have nothing to add except that I rewatched Young Adult the other day, and I can’t believe Charlize wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for that performance. Especially considering how bogus most of the nominees were that year. I loved her in that movie so much. I have a sneaking suspicion that character is more true to the real Charlize than anything else.
The whole Sean Penn thing has made me dislike her. Yes, it’s irrational. But it happened!
She was amazing in that movie, but she didn’t ugly herself up or play a historical character so there was no way she was going to get an Oscar nomination.
I agree! She did a great job in Young Adult.
I agree, she was great in that role. I very much like most of her performances.
Am I the only one to think that this relationship (and his desire to adopt Charlize’s son) is a trainwreck waiting to happen?
Nope. I agree with you.
You are not alone.
You are by far NOT the only one who thinks this. The Brange is not a good comparison considering Brad is known for being laid back and pretty calm. Sean is known for having a terrible temper, getting physically violent and abusive toward his SO’s. If not physically, at least mentally and verbally. Physical assaults have been rumored as far back as Madonna – but never evidenced. Why on Earth would Theron push for Sean to adopt her adopted child? Is it to prove he’s serious about her? They haven’t been together long. He hasn’t been in this new child’s life but a year. I wonder what his children think? I would think that would sting.
No, I am with you. To paraphrase dlisted’s Michael, this is their pre-divorce relationship. It’s going to be a full on mess when they split and the child will be in the middle of it.
Agreed. This will just make the split so much nastier.
Considering how long and exhaustive the adoption process is, could it really be that simple for Penn to do this.
I don’t understand why he’s adopting her son? If they’re not getting married, why does Jackson legally need a parent? For child support if Sean and Charlize break up? Can’t he just be in Jackson’s life and treat him like his own son without the paperwork?
Feelings about Penn as a person aside for a second– I can see why to a child having a father in a very legal way is important. Not just someone who kind of plays the role while he is with your mom. If they split then he is still dad to Jackson. To a child having that identity is very important.
I don’t think it’s as hard in these circumstances. I think it’s like taking on guardianship. The child is already a US citizen, already has a parent and legal guardian, and this co-parent has been approved by the mother. It could be as simple as signing a pile of paperwork.
I know they say that people can change and grow, but I think that “ragey” Sean Penn is still bubbling under the surface. Hopefully I’m wrong.
A serious question about adoption. If they break up, having never married, is the adopted child still a Theron-Penn or will he have to drop the Penn?
Sean would still legally be Jackson’s father. Just like when parents of biological children split.
By adopting Jackson, Sean would become his father. Now, in most cases, the courts side with the mother, and they are typically given primary custody, but Sean would still be entitled to fight for custody, and barring anything serious, would be granted shared custody if he wanted it.
Jackson is Mr. Cutie-Pie.
she doesn’t believe in marriage but shes engaged…
yeah, good decisions.
great decisions being made here, people.
and bring the law and your son into it too, good idea, Charlize.
I call an article on this very site within 1.5 years that says they’re in court battling each other for the kid. Charlize will want Penn out, Penn will want his ring and his guns back.
Everybody loses.
I hope they take this little boy’s welfare very seriously. You can tell from the way Jackson watches them, he doesn’t miss anything. Please don’t break this little boy’s heart.
I don’t believe anything in USWeekly.Show me the receipts.Do they even live together?
I think at only thirteen months into this relationship, it’s too early for Penn to adopt Jackson. I think of Penn as someone who isn’t a ‘stayer’ like Pitt. I think of Penn as a ‘mover’ going from one relationship to another in a shorter period of time than someone like Pitt who will stay in a serious relationship for years.
Charlize may be thrilled that Penn is with her, but giving up full control of her child to someone like him after only 13 months? Bad move, imo. I feel sorry for the kid.
Hopefully this is a serious relationship. Making a child YOUR CHILD should be thought out. I know Brad and Angie were used as an example. They are a kind of unique situation. They both seemed very committed to their family and raising it together. I remember Halle and Sandra and the children their husbands had.. Now neither is in the child’s life. Although Sandra could not adopt the little girl because the mother was still in her life. Halle’s situation was different in that the mother was deceased.
So these situations can be happy ones or painful ones.
Angelina was pregnant with Shiloh when Brad legally adopted Maddox and Zahara, so adopting them made perfect sense. So, unless Charlize is also pregnant, it is a different situation. Not that it makes it true, but People is also running with this story, but only has “sources”, not the actual papers like it was with Brad.
She must really be infatuated to want to legally tie her son to a man with known anger management issues.
Yeah, I mean, he’s wearing white socks and trainers instead of screwing random hookers in his limo. Obviously he should be handed parental rights.
I think in the case of these two…it works…because it takes a real, mean -itch to handle a real mean -astard…ergo…balance…and I like him solidifying the childcare first…
Funny.. 🙂
I wonder too if he is the one that wanted the adoption first. Some men are that way too
I still don’t understand their relationship, but since there’s a little kid involved, I’m just going to hope everything is happy and loving, and permanent, for his sake.
Don’t tell Sean Penn’s other son, a racist, that he is going to have a black brother.
This relationship has seemed warped to me from day one. Maybe Sean got rid of all of his guns so Charlize wouldn’t shoot him when he snaps and beats her up, like her mother did to her alcoholic father after years of beatings. Having been the child of an abusive father, why would she ever be attracted to another abuser or want her child around one? Is this a psychological flaw in her? Is she naive enough to think he would never beat her? With Sean’s history of fights in bars, fights with photographers, and his 3 day tirade with a baseball bat against a tied-up Madonna while they were married, how can Charlize ever completely trust him not to harm her or Jackson? Why is she willing to allow Sean to adopt Jackson? Just seems very bizarre to me.
All this.
Insane. What is she thinking? With this guy’s very long history of anger problems/violence, she has just sealed shut her own emergency exit door. Now when this ends, she and her child are STUCK with him, indefinitely.
Longtime lurker, first time poster…hello all….this is one of the few times I am moved enough to actually venture out of my lazy observing and join the fray. But has the whole world gone crazy?!?!? Why does no one, fans or the media, seem to be bothered by the fact that Sean’s son is a racist…a racist who is so comfortable with hurling the n word that it was FIRST reaction and the first words on his lips to scream F you n-word on tape with his father right next to him? Why do you suppose he was comfortable enough to do that with his father there, on video? Because that is how he talks in his normal life. And that is the son that Sean Penn raised. His first reaction to a black person annoying him was to scream that.
Lots of people are arguing that his son being racist doesn’t mean Sean is…because doing work in Haiti means he’s not racist (?! — kind of like how Bill Cosby supporting communities and education all this time means he is not a rapist??)
If you see the video, which you cannot un-see, it is a case of When people show you who they are, believe them. This is a young man who has grown up with famous parents and knows cameras are on him…and yet the first words on his lips to a black videographer was what they were….and Sean Penn had a non-reaction. That speaks volumes. Had he raised his children to NEVER use that word, and to respect all races, then I doubt that would be the first thing that came to mind when he saw the videographer. But because Sean Penn jets off to Haiti to help “the poors” and make himself look and feel better, that does not mean that he is not capable of being racist and allowing his son to speak that way. Again, the non-reaction by Penn spoke volumes…there was no alarm at the words, no surprise or shock or embarrassment. And NO fallout to his career or even any real reporting of it other than TMZ.
So I have 2 questions. 1, how do you think this gets explained to poor Jackson in a few years when he sees that video? Of his “brother” and his daddy? And 2, why does the Penn family get a pass? In today’s times, with the current racial discussions in our country, pretty much anyone who even breathes out of line is accused of racism and thrown to the wolves, or at the very least requires “reaching out to the black community/the Rev” (Hi amy pascal) or is told to check their white privilege.
Paula Deen admitted to using the word one time decades ago in regards to someone who could have killed her, and the world came hard. (I am not rationalizing what she said at all, just pointing out how differently it was covered). People were not satisfied until she had lost contracts, etc.
To me this case was even worse….this is a very educated, wealthy family, “liberal” elites in LA even, IN 2013….and no one cares at all. When people show you who they are believe them is all I’m saying.
I’m thinking about other celeb couples in this situation, like Harrison Ford and Calista – did he adopt her son before or after they got married? They were together for many years if I recall, before finally marrying.
Also Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband. She had adopted her oldest daughter before getting together with him, I think he eventually adopted her but after they married and had other kids.