Third time's a charm? In this case, third time would be a "first."
Sean Penn said if he were to marry his girlfriend of one year, Charlize Theron, he would consider it his first union despite having been married to Madonna and Robin Wright.
"You say I've been married twice before, but I’ve been married under circumstances where I was less informed than I am today," Penn said in Esquire UK's March edition. "So I wouldn’t even consider it a third marriage, I’d consider it a first marriage on its own terms if I got married again. I mean, I like the tradition. A friend of mine wrote a line, 'Without tradition, new things die.' And I don’t want new things to die."
Penn was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989. In 1996, he married "House of Cards" actress Robin Wright, and their marriage lasted 14 years and resulted in two children. Despite not considering both relationships "marriages," Penn said referred to both women as his "ex-wives."
"I’m very friendly with my first ex-wife," he said of his current relationship with Madonna. "I would say that I’m on extremely good terms with the children I share with my second ex-wife."
With two failed marriages under his belt, the actor said he's finally ready to be a husband at 54.
"Yeah, I’m surprised to be in love. Lot of reasons. I’m self-proclaimed bad at mathematics but I can do two plus two: [54] years old plus finally beginning to figure out why you haven’t been happy in a single relationship? It could seem too late," he said. "But to run into somebody now who you care about is a much more passionate, deeper, truer and – God! – a much happier feeling. It’s a lot more romantic and a lot more fulfilling to be in a relationship and to think you’re a good person within it."