Actor Sean Penn drew widespread attention following his appearance on the Louis Theroux Podcast on Monday, where his physical appearance and controversial remarks about director Woody Allen dominated online discussion.
Penn, 64, appeared on camera with visibly gray, disheveled hair, a beard, noticeable facial aging, and a prominent red bruise on his nose.
Viewers quickly reacted on social media, with several questioning his health and age.
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“He looks rough,” one user commented under a clip from the interview shared on X.
Others remarked, “He’s only 64?!” and “That’s a hard 64,” while one added, “WTF happened to him, he’s aged 30 years.”
In addition to public reaction over his appearance, Penn’s comments on filmmaker Woody Allen drew renewed scrutiny.
Penn, who starred in Allen’s 1999 film Sweet and Lowdown, said he would work with Allen again “in a heartbeat” despite the longstanding allegations made against the director.
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In 1992, actress Mia Farrow accused Allen of molesting their adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, who was seven years old at the time.
Allen has denied the allegation and was never charged following investigations.
Penn said he does not believe the claims against Allen.
“I am not aware of any clinical psychologist or psychiatrist or anyone I’ve ever heard talk or spoken to around the subject of pedophilia that in 80 years of life, there’s accusations of it happening only once,” Penn stated.
He added, “And when people try to associate what were his, let’s say, much younger girlfriends—right or wrong is not the conversation here—but post-puberty, consensual stuff is to me a different conversation.”
Penn continued, “So, I just think that whatever is the worst of people’s suspicions about him, just check him with the facts separate from the moment and the movement and all. Who benefited from that. Let’s just take a second. That’s all I’m saying. I see he’s not proven guilty, so I take him as innocent, and I would work with him in a heartbeat.”
The allegations were made public seven months after Farrow discovered Allen’s relationship with her then-21-year-old adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
In 1993, New York Supreme Court Justice Elliott Wilk denied Allen’s bid for custody of Dylan and called his behavior “grossly inappropriate,” though the judge also rejected the sexual abuse claims as unproven.
Allen and Previn later married in 1997 and adopted two daughters.
Dylan Farrow has continued to stand by her allegations, while her brother Moses has publicly defended Allen and claimed in 2018 that Mia Farrow was abusive. Mia Farrow has denied that claim.
Penn acknowledged the difficulty in making definitive judgments.
“With these things, I don’t know anyone well enough to say, ‘100 percent, this didn’t happen, that didn’t happen,’” he said.
“The stories are mostly told by people that I wouldn’t trust with a dime.”
Penn’s comments come eight months after Mia Farrow said on CBS Sunday Morning that she harbors no resentment toward actors who choose to work with Allen.
“I completely understand if an actor decides to work with him,” she said.
“I’m not one who’d say, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t.’”
While Penn expressed continued support for Allen, many in Hollywood have distanced themselves.
Actors such as Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman, Greta Gerwig, and Colin Firth have publicly stated they will not work with Allen again.
Others, including Diane Keaton, Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin, and Cate Blanchett, have voiced support for him.
Penn is set to appear in One Battle After Another, a crime drama from director Paul Thomas Anderson slated for release on September 26 in the U.S. and U.K.
The Warner Bros. film, described as Anderson’s most commercially oriented project to date, also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, and Benicio del Toro. Penn plays Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in the film, which is a loose modern adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland.
He will also executive produce Words of War, an upcoming biopic about Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, directed by James Strong.
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