Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Sean Penn and Australian actress Leila George have finalized their divorce after being married for nearly two years. The pair, who tied the knot in July 2020, had their divorce finalized and approved on Friday, as per documents acquired by People. George, 30, had filed for divorce in October 2021 from Penn, 61, just over a year after their marriage. The former couple, who were spotted on New Year's Eve, retained their own private judge to speed up the divorce process with California's backlogged courts. Penn and George have been revealed to have separated in September 2021 according to the documents, which cite the reason for their breakup to be irreconcilable differences, with neither of them opting for spousal support from each other.
Speaking to the magazine Hollywood Authentic earlier this month regarding his work in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, Penn also revealed how he "f***** up the marriage" by being "very neglectful". 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." Penn added, "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."
Penn, who won Oscars for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), continued about George and said, "And 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***'." He added, "As it turns out, women as described, they don't love that." Penn stated at the time that he did not "know what's going to happen with us", but, "I know that this is my best friend in the world and definitely the most influential, inspiring person, outside of my own blood, that anybody could ask to have in their life".
Sean Penn, who appeared in a couple of episodes of the hit sitcom Friends, will be next seen in the upcoming political thriller limited television series Gaslit. The actor was previously married to Robin Wright and shares a daughter Dylan and a son Hopper. He was also married to global pop sensation Madonna from 1985 to 1989.
