People News

Sean Penn never felt loved

Dec 13, 2012, 6:01 GMT

Sean Penn

Sean Penn thinks this ex-wives never loved him.

The acclaimed actor - who was previously married to Madonna for four years until 1989 and actress Robin Wright for 13 years until July 2010 - claims he feels like he has never been loved and believes the relationships were fraudulent.

The 52-year-old actor - who also dated Scarlett Johansson last year - told the January issue of Esquire magazine: 'There is no shame in saying that we all want to be loved by someone. As I look back over my life in romance, I don't feel I've ever had that. I have been the only one that was unaware of the fraud in a few of these circumstances blindly.'

The 'Tree of Life' star admitted his divorce from Robin - with whom he shares two children Dylan, 21, and Hopper, 19, - was a real eye opener after years of struggling to make sense of their on-again/off-again relationship.

He said: 'When you get divorced, all the truths that come out, you sit there and you go, 'What the f*** was I doing? What was I doing believing that this person was invested in this way?' Which is a fantastically strong humiliation in the best sense.

'It can make somebody very bitter and very hard and closed off, but I find it does the opposite to me.'

The actor - who co-founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organisation - believes being able to help the people of Haiti following the 2010 earthquake helped him recover from his heartbreak as he found it difficult to adjust to being a bachelor again.

He said: 'I don't have anything. My daughter's doing her thing, my son's with his mother. So I turned on the TV and there was this earthquake in Haiti.

'You had a country that had never experienced anything that related to comfort, and out of that you had great trauma - but also this great strength that, I think, we all benefited from.'