Hollywood actor Sean Penn was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989. Now, in an interview with The New York Times, the actor spoke about the long-standing rumours about his marriage to the pop star, quashing all the accusations of physical abuse. 

During their divorce, it was reported that Sean had hit his then-wife using a baseball bat. However, he has denied any such claims.

Sean slams the claims

Looking back at his previous relationship, he said, “I had a freaking SWAT team come into my house”.

He added that Madonna had told police she was worried about guns in the house. “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. They had me in handcuffs,” he added.

No hard feelings

Despite their turbulent past, Sean admits that he still has a soft spot for his former wife.

He said, “She’s someone I love. It turns out it’s a lot quicker to repair a friendship after divorce if there are not kids involved. It took [ex-wife Robin Wright] and I quite a while. There was a lot of drama. Much more important to repair it if there are kids involved, but no easy swing, right?”

About their relationship

Sean, 63, and Madonna, 65, were married from 1985 to 1989. The Like a Virgin hitmaker first filed for divorce from Sean in 1987, however, she withdrew the papers before filing again two years later. At that time, several reports claimed that Sean had physically assaulted the pop star, including beating her with a baseball bat, and in fact, tied her to a chair for hours.

However, Madonna has denied that there was ever physical abuse in her marriage to Sean.

“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,” she wrote in a 2015 statement while testifying on Sean’s behalf in a defamation lawsuit against Lee Daniels.

The actor had filed a $10 million lawsuit against Lee at the time after the Empire co-creator referred to Sean when discussing domestic violence in Hollywood. The lawsuit was settled in 2016.