Inside Sean Penn’s colorful love life as Hollywood actor secures 5th Golden Globe nomination
Sean Penn has once again been recognized for his incredible work as an actor in One Battle After Another, but his love life also places him in the spotlight from time-to-time
Sean Penn has secured his fifth Golden Globe nomination(Image: )
Sean Penn has had quite the career in Hollywood with the iconic actor scoring himself a fifth Golden Globe nomination this year for his role in One Battle After Another.
The film, which sees him star alongside Leonardo DiCaprio as the main antagonist, won him the nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the villainous and creepy military officer, Steven J. Lockjaw. Sean, 65, makes his mark on the movie with a standout performance that won him praise from both audiences and critics.
While Sean is well-known for his acting work, another aspect of his life that often garners attention is his romantic connections. The Hollywood star has been married three times and has had multiple high-profile girlfriends too over the years.
Who is Sean Penn dating now?
Sean Penn and his current girlfriend Valeria Nicov (Image: )
Sean is currently dating model Valeria Nicov, after they went public with their romance in September 2024 after being spotted kissing passionately on a romantic getaway in Madrid, Spain.
Valeria, originally from Chișinău, the capital of Moldova, is currently based in France. She’s no stranger to the spotlight herself, having appeared in the hit Netflix series Emily in Paris.
Prior to his romance with Valeria, Sean was dating Olga Korotyayeva, an actress, who starred in the 2021 film Blast. They were an item from around May 2023 until they split around November of the same year.
Who are Sean Penn’s ex-wives?
Madonna (1985–1989)
Sean and Madonna were married for four years(Image: )
Sean and Madonna were married for four years from 1985 to 1989. The former couple first met on the set of the movie Shanghai Surprise with their relationship developing from there.
Their romance was highly-publicized and known for its difficult moments, including when Sean was accused of physically assaulting the singer on at least two occasions. However, Madonna went on to deny those allegations as part of a defamation suit Sean filed against Lee Daniels.
Sean brought the $10 million suit against Lee in 2015 over an accusation he made while defending Empire star Terrence Howard who had been accused of hitting his wife. Lee said that Terrence “ain’t done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn.”
Madonna defended Sean over allegations of domestic violence(Image: )
Madonna then gave a full statement to speak in his defence, stating, “I am aware of the allegations that have surfaced over the years accusing Sean of incidents of physical assault and abuse against me. Specifically, I am aware of the allegations concerning an alleged incident that occurred in June 1987, whereby (according to tabloid reports) Sean allegedly struck me with ‘a baseball bat.’ I know the allegations in those and other reports to be completely outrageous, malicious and false.”
She added, “I am also aware of allegations concerning an incident that occurred in December 1989, which purportedly resulted in Sean’s arrest for domestic assault and battery against me. I know those allegations to be false. While we certainly had more than one heated argument during our marriage, Sean has never struck me, ‘tied me up’ or physically assaulted me, and any report to the contrary is completely outrageous, malicious, reckless and false.”
Lee went on to issue an apology, which Sean publicly accepted.
Robin Wright (1996–2010)
Sean and Robin Wright share two children(Image: )
His longest romance, Sean and Robin sparked their love story not long after his divorce from Madonna. They welcomed a daughter, Dylan, in 1991, followed by their son, Hopper, in 1993. The two then got married three years later.
Robin spoke about their divorce and how they had tried for a long time to make the marriage work for the sake of the children in an interview with The Telegraph. She said, “Divorce in and of itself, and with children, is devastating. Worse than that. One of the reasons why we got back together and broke up so much was trying to keep the family together. If you’ve got kids, it’s a family, and you try again, and you try again. We did that for a long time.”
Leila George (2020–2021)
Sean married Aussie actress Leila George during lockdown(Image: )
Sean and Australian actress Leila George started dating in 2016, marrying in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they divorced just one year later, with Sean admitting the demise of their union was his fault.
Speaking with Hollywood Authentic, he said, “There’s a woman who I’m so in love with, Leila George, who I only see on a day-to-day basis now, because I f—– up the marriage. We were married technically for one year, but for five years, I was a very neglectful guy.”
He continued, “I was not a f—— cheat or any of that obvious s—, but I allowed myself to think that my place in so many other things was so important, and that included my place in being totally depressed and driven to alcohol and Ambien at 11 o’clock in the morning, by watching the news, by watching the Trump era, by watching it and just despairing.”
Who else has Sean Penn dated?
Charlize Theron
Sean famously dated fellow Hollywood star Charlize Theron(Image: )
Sean and Charlize were together from 2013 to 2015, after their decades-long friendship turned into something more romantic around Halloween 2013. In 2015, Charlize opened up about their relationship to Elle UK saying, “He’s my partner, he’s the love of my life.”
But by June of that year the romance was over, and one year on Charlize addressed rumors that she had ghosted the actor. She told WSJ Magazine, “There is this need to sensationalize things. When you leave a relationship there has to be some f—ing crazy story or some crazy drama. And the f—ing ghosting thing, like literally I still don’t even know what it is.”
She added, “It’s just its own beast. We were in a relationship and then it didn’t work anymore. And we both decided to separate. That’s it.”
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett and Sean were an item very briefly in 2011. At the time he was 50, while she was 26, with no real reason ever given why things didn’t work out between them.
Elizabeth McGovern
Sean and Elizabeth McGovern were romantically linked in the ’80s(Image: )
Sean and the Downton Abbey star dated on and off during the mid-80s when they met on the set of 1984 movie Racing with the Moon. She once told the Daily Mail of the relationship, “I didn’t want to get married, but he did – or at least he said he did,” whilst describing the romance as “so exhausting.”
She added, “I couldn’t sustain it. We also wanted to do different things. He likes to pretend he’s not really a Hollywood person, but he is.”
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