The princess did not find her prince charming.
When Robin Wright met her future husband, Sean Penn, on the set of State of Grace, they became just another celebrity couple who fell in love on set and started a whirlwind romance that caught both of them in its clutches and took them down a path of destruction.
Wright was just breaking out in films like The Princess Bride and Penn was a veteran actor, just emerging from his scandalous marriage to Madonna. Moving at that speed left Wright in a position where she had to put a hold on her promising career to look after their daughter Dylan and son Hopper, while Penn went off and became an even bigger actor and director.
Wright was able to put her career back on track and become one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, but her marriage to Penn started to crumble. After entering into an on/off-again relationship for the last couple of years of their marriage, Wright and Penn called in quits, for good, in 2010. They've both remarried since; Wright to Clement Giraudet in 2018, and Penn to his 28-year old girlfriend Leila George last year.
While we watch Wright's Antiope once again kickass in Zack Snyder's Justice League, let's revisit why her marriage to Penn didn't work.
They Couldn't Have Met At A Worse Time
Penn was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989. It was allegedly a very tumultuous marriage that often brought out Penn's more fiery side. He served time in prison (just 33 days) after he assaulted a photographer, and was later served divorce papers, allegedly for domestic violence not long after. She withdrew them, only to serve them again in 1989, a process Penn would go through with Wright many times.
Straight out of divorcing Madonna, Penn jumped into a romance with Wright on set and moved in with her shortly after. Things didn't slow down for them, though. They gave birth to their daughter Dylan in 1991 and their son Hopper Jack in 1993.
To take care of her kids, Wright started putting her budding career on the back burner and turning down roles, including Maid Marian from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Abby McDeere in The Firm.
"We were learning as we were going along," Wright told Vanity Fair in 2015. "We agreed as parents that we’d not work at the same time so that one of us was always with the kids. He was making more money than I was at the time, so it was a simple decision: 'You go work—I’ll stay with the kids.'"
She only got back on track with Jenny in Forest Gump in 1994. What made things easier with juggling the kids was Penn's decision to start directing. He directed Crossing Guard in 1995, which Wright also starred, but while they worked great together, their relationship was slowly starting to accumulate some cracks.
They Started Having Problems In 1996
Their first breakup happened in 1995, during or not long after Crossing Guard. Penn had a brief relationship with singer Jewel after and asked her to do a song for the film. Awkward.
He got back with Wright in 1996, however, and they decided to tie the knot this time. "Marriage ain’t easy, but it’s great most of the time," Penn told Entertainment Weekly in 1997. "I love Robin. I’ve always loved her."
A year later things seemed hunky-dory again when they co-starred together in She’s So Lovely. But Wright was still needed at home and continued to turn down roles so she wouldn't be heartbroken about leaving her kids.
"I turned down so many films because I wanted to be a mom that…they stopped offering," Wright said.
Their reconciliation lasted until 2007 when Wright filed for divorce. After four months, she retracted it and they once again reconciled. For a bit.
In 2009, there was trouble in paradise once again. Penn failed to thank Wright in his Oscars acceptance speech for Harvey Milk, even though Wright had accompanied him and was sitting in the audience. Apparently she "knew" he would have said her name if he had time.
Not long after, Penn filed for divorce...but, again, it was retracted and they reconciled. Only for a couple of months. After that, Wright filed again for the final time. It was finalized in 2010.
"So why did a woman who was strong enough to demand an equal salary to her male costar remain in such a tempestuous relationship for so long?" Pens and Patron write. Good question. She tried to save her marriage so many times for her kids, just like she gave up her early career for them. She's okay with being a "late bloomer" though.
Wright told More magazine that she didn't want to reconcile with Penn. "I hit that crossroad a while ago," she said. "I know what I don’t want."
It's unclear what exactly happened between them though. There's certainly Penn's fiery side to take into account, but others have said that Wright was always jealous of Penn's fame and for being able to work. Which she had every right to be.
Wright and Penn are not really on speaking terms. In 2012, Penn told Esquire that his marriage was "a farce" and, according to him, he'd never been loved by either of his ex-wives. Penn also revealed on the WTF Podcast that he didn't "have a lot of conversation," with Wright.
"We don’t get along," he added. "We have very separate relationships with our kids at this point and it seems to work better that way because they are making their own decisions. As it turned out she and I did not share the same ethical views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children." He didn't go into any specifics.
Wright says getting divorced gave her confidence and allowed for tons of doors to open. Penn says getting divorced opened his eyes to what was really going on, and it reinvigorated him in a way. So divorcing was the best option. Penn turned to charity work, while Wright reinvigorated her now successful acting career. All is right in the world.