Together since 1989 and married in 1996, Robin Wright was Sean Penn‘s longtime anchor. Then, after some breakups and reunions, the two finally divorced last August.
While Wright says she’s enjoying her independence and has no regrets about her ex, Penn, looking back, says, “She is a ghost to me now.”
Speaking to author-historian Douglas Brinkley for Vanity Fair’s July issue, the “Mystic River” and “Milk” Oscar winner says, “We spent all those years together. Now she’s just gone.”
The couple’s $15 million northern California home was sold, and Penn, 49, now lives in Malibu near his mom, actress Eileen Ryan.
Penn’s personal life, he says, now revolves around issues that concern him, such as aiding the victims and helping to rebuild Haiti after last January’s devastating 7.0 earthquake.
Yet he is also there for his family. When his 16-year-old son with Wright, Hopper – named for the recently deceased actor Dennis Hopper, a friend of Penn’s – sustained a life-threatening head injury in a skateboarding accident, Penn joined Wright in the hospital to be there for the teen and pray for him.
“He underwent risky surgery due to intense bleeding of the brain,” Penn says, “and he pulled through.”
His son’s brush with death was life-altering for Penn, writes Brinkley. Penn began painstakingly reassessing his life’s priorities, and spent time with T Bone Burnett, the composer-producer who in the 1970s helped Bob Dylan find Jesus.
“I wanted to give back something more to help struggling people, but I didn’t know how to best do it,” says Penn. “I was for 20 years in a relationship with Robin and 18 years with children. I didn’t have time to commit to anything – for real – in places like Iraq, except to denounce the war. But now I’m single. I can lend a hand.”
Former North Korean captive Laura Ling has named her new baby after her sister and Bill Clinton.
Ling experienced two life-altering thrills within a year’s time: seeing former President Bill Clinton’s August arrival in North Korea to help free her and Current TV colleague Euna Lee‘s freedom after five months – and learning she was pregnant with her and husband Iain Clayton’s first child.
Now she can add a third.
On Wednesday, Ling, 33, and financial analyst Clayton, 43, welcomed daughter Li Jefferson Clayton at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, Calif. She weighed 8 lbs., 2 oz.
“Her parents are too speechless,” Laura’s sister Lisa Ling, former co-host on The View – and now a correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show – told People.
Laura Ling told People last month that while she was in captivity, she thought, “I am never going to be able to start a family.” But after learning she would have a girl in January, she and Clayton decided to name her “Li,” after sister Lisa.
As for Li’s middle name, Jefferson, Lisa Ling explains it is in tribute to William Jefferson Clinton. “He has checked in on me several times to see how I’m doing,” Laura said, “and has been so concerned and caring. He’s such a wonderful human being.”
Both Laura and Lisa, 36, co-wrote “Somewhere Inside,” a memoir about their relationship and the events of the previous year. Laura and Euna Lee also appear together on their own network in a special currently featured online on Current TV’s website.
Seventh time is a charm for Kevin Costner.
The Oscar-winning director, 55, and his wife, Christine Baumgartner, 36, welcomed a daughter named Grace Avery Costner on Wednesday.
The couple’s baby was born in Los Angeles, weighing 7 lbs., 11 oz. and measuring 21 inches long.
“Both mother and daughter are doing well,” the actor’s rep said in a statement.
This is the third child for the couple, who wed in 2004. Costner is already a father to six other children: Hayes Logan, 16 months; Cayden Wyatt, 3; Liam, 13; Joe, 22; Lily, 23, and Annie, 25.
Legendary soul musician Isaac Hayes may get a memorial stretch of highway in his home state of Tennessee.
A measure to designate a section of Interstate 40 the “Isaac Hayes Memorial Highway” passed the state Senate unanimously Thursday. The House approved it without opposition in April.
The commemorative stretch would be near Memphis, where Hayes had a home until he died of a stroke in 2008 at the age of 65. He was raised in Tipton County, north of Memphis.
The bill now goes to Gov. Phil Bredesen, who is not expected to oppose it.
The deep-voiced singer won Academy and Grammy awards for his “Theme From Shaft.” He was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. He also acted in movies and provided the voice of Chef on the animated TV show “South Park.”
— The Associated Press also contributed to this report
lsmith@denverpost.com
