While holding nothing back, Sean Penn just opened up about his third marriage in the new cover story for Hollywood Authentic. The Milk star, 61, admitted he is still in love with his estranged wife, actress Leila George, 30, who filed for divorce from him in October of last year.
“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–ed up the marriage,” the Mystic River actor notably told the publication. “We were married technically for one year, but for five years, I was a very neglectful guy,” he added. Penn said that while he was never unfaithful to George or “any of that obvious s–t,” he did admit to putting alcohol before their relationship and took the blame for its ultimate end.
“[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,” he said.
The Fast Times at Ridgemont High icon also took the former couple’s 32-year age gap into account and said that his frequent drinking and unstable behavior concerned George, who he dated for 4 years before marrying in July of 2020.
“As it turns out — this is going to shock you — beautiful, incredibly kind, imaginative, talented young women who get married to a man quite senior to them in years, they don’t actually love it when they get up from their peaceful night’s sleep and their new husband is on the couch, having been up since 4, watching all of the crap that’s going on in the world and has decided that 10:30 in the morning is a good time to neck a double vodka tonic and an Ambien and say, ‘Good morning, honey. I’m going to pass out for a few hours and get away from all this s–t,’” he poignantly confessed.
Since his split with the actress, Penn said he continues to practice self-reflection and hopes to improve himself as a person and partner. While he did not mention whether a possible reconciliation is in the air for him and George, he did seem to imply that he hopes it will happen, referring to her as his ‘wife.’
“Now, when I wash the dishes, I don’t answer my phone,” he said, of knowing his limits and prioritizing his responsibilities. “If I’m with my wife for a day, I don’t have my phone on, even though I’m juggling a lot of things. I don’t juggle them better by taking more calls. I can have my phone off and not watch the news for 12 hours now.”
The Oscar winner noted that he has seen an improvement in himself, despite his recent heartbreak: “And even when I’m stressed, I’m never stressed the way I used to be. Because we’ve all had our heart broken at some point.” While Penn said he does still drink vodka and rely on Ambien to help him sleep, he no longer uses either of them to “hide from the world now like [he] used to.”
Penn was previously married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989 and Robin Wright from 1996 to 2010. He shares 2 children with his second wife: daughter Dylan, 30, and son Hopper, 28. George, Penn’s third wife, has never previously been married and is the daughter of Daredevil actor Vincent D’Onofrio.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers two years ago, Penn told host Meyers that he and George “did a COVID wedding,” adding, “By that I mean it was a county commissioner on Zoom, we were at the house, my two children and her brother, and we did it that way,” as he beamed with a smile.
