Sean Penn has responded to his ex-wife Madonna’s claim that he was ‘the love of life’ following the end of their four year marriage.

During an appearance on Louis Thereoux’s podcast, the actor, 64, was asked about the pop icon’s claim, which was made in her 1991 documentary, Truth or Dare.

The former couple were married from 1985 and 1989, after meeting on the set of Madonna’s music video for her hit sing, Material Girl.

A couple of years after their separation, Madge, 66, insisted tha Sean was still the love of her life – but Sean seemingly didn’t feel the same way.

Addressing her remark, he brutally responded: ‘It didn’t take us long to realise that we had mistaken a good first date for a wedding partner.’

During the conversation, Louis asked: ‘Did you see the documentary they made about her?’

Sean Penn has responded to his ex-wife Madonna’s claim that he was ‘the love of life’ following the end of their four year marriage

The former couple were married from 1985 and 1989, after meeting on the set of Madonna’s music video for her hit sing, Material Girl (pictured in 1987)

Seann replied: ‘Oh, yeah I know about that. Yep’, while Louis asked: ‘And then they ask her ‘who’s the love of your life?’ Do you, do you remember that?’

When asked if he remembered, Seann added: ‘I do. I remember what she said. She’s very sweet. Look, she’s been a good friend for a lot of years. It didn’t take us long to realise that we had mistaken a good first date for a wedding partner. 

‘It didn’t take us long to recover after we got divorced, maybe a year, in a friendship. I have a lot of fond memories of it – it’s not all jail. But there was a lot of alcohol and she’d be fairly accusing me of that.’

Sean and Madonna tied the knot in 1985, starting a rollercoaster marriage in which she filed for divorce in 1987, reconciled with him, then left him for good in 1989. 

In June 2024, Sean once again denied the wild rumor that he physically abused his ex-wife Madonna, insisting: ‘She’s someone I love.’

During their turbulent marriage in the 1980s, sensational claims surfaced that he tied her to a chair on one occasion and struck her with a baseball bat on another.

Both Madonna and Sean have staunchly denied he was ever violent with her, and she even testified on his behalf in a defamation lawsuit over the allegations.

At the time, Sean cleared the air on the issue again – while admitting one of their marital squabbles resulted in a SWAT team arriving at their home.

Addressing her remark, he brutally responded: ‘It didn’t take us long to realise that we had mistaken a good first date for a wedding partner’

Sean and Madonna tied the knot in 1985, starting a rollercoaster marriage in which she filed for divorce in 1987, reconciled with him, then left him for good in 1989 (they are seen together in 1986 film Shanghai surprise)

Two years later in 1991 Madonna’s documentary тιтled Truth Or Dare was released as she referred to the actor as ‘the love of her life’

Madonna supposedly called the police saying she was anxious about guns being in the house, and SWAT then burst onto the premises, smashing the windows and putting Sean ‘in handcuffs,’ he told the New York Times.

‘I had a freaking SWAT team come into my house,’ Sean recalled in a new interview with the newspaper’s longtime columnist Maureen Dowd.

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‘I said: “I’m not coming out. I’m going to finish my breakfast.” The next thing I knew, windows were being broken all around the house and they came in,’ he said.

Eventually he got wind of the rumors that he had ‘trussed her up like a turkey,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know what “trussed up” meant, first.’

After he enjoyed a ‘lovely night’ with a later girlfriend, he woke up the next morning, went out for a cigarette and found himself faced with her ‘looking at me like I killed her dog’ and asking ‘about this hitting Madonna in the head with a baseball bat.’

Sean said: ‘I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. Now I think it’s fair to say that I’m not the biggest guy in the world. But if I hit Mike Tyson in the head with a baseball bat, he’s going to the hospital.’

He and Madonna now enjoy an amicable rapport, partly because, he said: ‘It turns out it’s a lot quicker to repair a friendship after divorce if there are not kids involved.’

In 2015, Madonna testified that Sean never abused her, supporting his $10 million defamation lawsuit against Empire creator Lee Daniels.

The Fast Times At Ridgemont High actor said: ‘I do. I remember what she said. She’s very sweet. Look, she’s been a good friend for a lot of years’

Sean trashed their marriage while revealing that they were able to resume their friendship relatively quickly as he explained: ‘It didn’t take us long to realize that we had mistaken a good first date for a wedding partner. It didn’t take us long to recover after we got divorced, maybe a year, in a friendship. ‘I have a lot of fond memories of it – it’s not all jail. But there was a lot of alcohol and she’d be fairly accusing me of that’; they are seen in September 2013

The fracas began after Empire star Terrance Howard admitted in an interview that he had slapped his wife in front of their children.

Amid the explosive controversy that resulted, Lee sprang to Terrance’s defense, arguing that he had never done what ‘Marlon Brando or Sean Penn’ did. 

Sean sued Lee over the remark and Madonna submitted an affidavit on his behalf, specifically denying the allegations about the baseball bat and being tied up.

‘While we certainly had more than one heated argument during our marriage, Sean has never struck me, “tied me up” or physically ᴀssaulted me, and any report to the contrary is completely outrageous, malicious, reckless and false,’ she ᴀsserted.

The lawsuit eventually ended with a settlement, in which Lee was forced to issue a public apology for his original comments and also had to make a donation to Sean’s disaster relief organization CORE.