Sean Penn's pals say he looks like 'wrinkled prune' next to new GF 3 years younger than his daughter
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Hollywood’s resident silver fox Sean Penn is back in the headlines over his love life.
The 64-year-old actor is now dating 30-year-old Valeria Nicov. She’s three years younger than his 33-year-old daughter Dylan Penn.
Senn Penn's controversial dating habits
Even in the land of May-December romances, Sean Penn’s new relationship is raising eyebrows. Sources told Radar Online that the 'Mystic River' star looks like a "dried-up prune" next to his new girlfriend.
One insider spilled, “Sean gets more grizzled and gray, but his partners get younger and more fresh-faced. He’s known to be very controlling, and dating a much younger woman puts him in a dominant position. He wants to be seen as this cool guy who can catch the hotties, but everyone around him knows it’s a joke."
Penn and Nicov were first spotted together in September, two years after his split from actress Leila George (who was 32 at the time of their 2022 divorce). The two had been together for five years.
But Penn allegedly spiraled during his marriage to George, reportedly downing Ambien and booze before noon as he was "totally depressed" over Trump-era news coverage.
Beverly Hills celebrity psychiatrist Dr Carole Lieberman didn’t mince words when she weighed in on Penn’s dating habits.
While she hasn’t treated him personally, she offered this take: “Some older man-younger woman relationships are based upon love, but others are based upon unhealthy reasons. Many times, the man uses the younger woman as proof to the world he’s still handsome and sexy.”
Lieberman added, “Sean has a history of being controlling towards women, and it’s often easier to control a younger woman. He expects his girlfriends and wives to simply follow along with whatever he wants. Blaming his neglect of Leila on his despair over ‘the Trump era’ is ridiculous and a poor excuse.”
Sean Penn’s Oscars rant amid Donald Trump biopic drama
At this point, it is safe to say that Sean Penn has a knack for courting controversy. Earlier this month, he lit up the Marrakech Film Festival (literally).
Chain-smoking on stage, the two-time Academy Award winner unleashed a tirade against the Oscars, accusing the Academy of “extraordinary cowardice” and slamming them for “limiting different cultural expressions.”
Penn’s disdain for Hollywood’s gatekeepers is nothing new, but this time he was throwing his support behind Ali Abbasi’s hotly debated film 'The Apprentice', Fox News reported.
The Trump biopic delves into the former president’s rise to prominence in the 1970s and includes portrayals of Ivana Trump (Maria Bakalova), Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), and even Donald Trump himself (Sebastian Stan).
While accepting a lifetime achievement award, Penn fumed: “It’s jaw-dropping how afraid this [so-called] business of mavericks is of a great film like that. One with great, great acting. [It’s amazing] that they too can be as afraid as a piddly little Republican congressman.”
Penn also took a swipe at Hollywood’s obsession with sanitized diversity.
"Around the world [there is] this demand for diversity — but not diversity of behavior and not diversity of opinion or language," he said. "I would just encourage everybody to be as politically incorrect as their heart desires and to engage diversity and to keep telling those stories, and I’m very proud and happy to be here. Thank you."
