Sean Penn: Madonna would have ruined my life

Sean Penn claims his life would have been ruined if he had stayed married to Madonna. The Oscar-winning actor wed the pop superstar in 1985 under a blaze of media interest and Sean believes their different attitudes towards fame were one of the main reasons their marriages didn't work. He said: "Had we stayed together, we'd have driven each other mad. But I was just as badly behaved as her. "I never liked being under the spotlight. Our marriage guaranteed that we lived in the public gaze, which meant that we had no real marriage at all. We didn't even have time to have a proper conversation. She was in the process of becoming the biggest star in the world. I just wanted to make my films and hide." However, the 'Mystic River' star says he now gets on with his ex-spouse - thanks to second wife Robin Wright. Sean - who married the mother of his two children nine years ago - told Britain's Now magazine: "I was an angry young man. I had a lot of demons and I don't really know who could've lived with me at the time. When I got together with Robin, things changed.

"She was also very good at getting me to deal with memories of my first wife. She told me: 'Madonna's very real, sensitive and wants what we all want out of life.'

She was right. I've talked to Madonna since and we get along fine. We both accept that to have stayed together would probably have ruined our lives."