Sean Penn is slamming cynics who have criticized his recent trip to Haiti.

In January, the actor, 49, brought 11 doctors to the earthquake-hit nation, where he also helped establish a private Haitian relief organization.

But some have argued that celebs like Penn should stay out of aid efforts, insisting that stars use tragedy merely to rebuild their public image (Penn recently went through a divorce with actress Robin Wright). Critics also say that stars’ efforts are hypocritical: They complain about the injustice of others, critics say, only to return to their holiday homes and lavish lifestyles.

But in an interview this weekend on CBS News’ Sunday Morning, Penn says he ignores the negative chatter.

“I guess I’ve been so away from it all– and our tent camp in Haiti that I haven’t had an awful lot of time to pay attention to them,” he says. “You know, do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah. You know, but I’m not going to spend a lot of energy on it.”

He said he even plans to get his two children – Hopper Jack, 16 and Dylan, 18 – involved.

“Oh, they’re gonna help,” he says, adding that they even visited Haiti with him. “I think that they’ve had the experience, as I have, that the first person served by service is the server. You know, there’s nobody in the world that isn’t looking for a kind of purpose in life, and tangible purpose is the most immediately recognizable. You know, there’s no time that you’re over there, there’s not something to do to lend a hand.”

Penn says the more than $1 million he brought to Haiti with the help of his friend, businesswoman Diana Jenkins, has been a big help.

“We were able to get X-ray machines, and ventilators, and do all kinds of things,” he says, adding that they literally took suitcases of cash to Haiti.

“We don’t do that anymore,” he says of lugging money around. “We now have a bank account, so– so no one comes up for cash on the ground in Haiti.”

Source, Fame Pictures

Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has been hit with battery and vandalism charges stemming from an encounter with a photographer outside a Brentwood store in October. If convicted, Penn could face up to 18 months in jail.

Frank Mateljan of the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said prosecutors are alleging the star kicked a photographer and then broke his camera.

The incident was captured by TMZ and shows the actor charging towards the photographer, taking a punch and kick while shouting “get out!” and continuing his pursuit as the man doggedly keeps filming. Nowhere in the footage does the camera leave the photog’s hands.

The actor, who resides in San Francisco, will be arraigned in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 22. Penn’s people have not been reached for comment.

Twenty-five years ago, Penn received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty for attacking two British journalists trying to snap pics of his then-wife Madonna. He also got punchy in 1987 with a movie extra on the set of ‘Colors.’

Lately, Penn has been spending time in Port-au-Prince, Haiti attempting to highlight the need for more aid in the earthquake-leveled nation.

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Water for Elephants remains one of my favorite books of the last couple years. I absolutely LOVED it! I think I should read it again! Word has it Robert Pattinson is set to take the lead as the main character, Jacob. I can’t deny, I think this is genius casting!

Robert Pattinson and Sean Penn are circling Fox 2000′s Depression-era drama “Water for Elephants.”
Reese Witherspoon has already boarded to the film, which will be directed by Francis Lawrence.

Based on Sara Gruen’s best-selling historical tome of the same name, story centers on a Cornell U. veterinary student who leaves his studies after his parents are killed and joins up with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, working as a vet for the circus. Witherspoon will play Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August (Penn), the charismatic but twisted animal trainer.

“Twilight” star Pattinson has been on every studio’s wish list. His deal is expected to close. Penn, who is in Haiti on a humanitarian mission, is the bigger question mark. He has an offer from the studio but is still mulling the role.

What do you think of this casting news?

Go over to my friends at Pop Eater to find out more!

The ink’s barely dry on the divorce filing between Sean Penn and soon-to-be ex Robin Wright Penn, but the actor didn’t waste time getting back on his feet with new girlfriend Jessica White in New York City.

On Friday night, Penn, 49, and White, 25, had dinner at Hotel Griffou (both ordered the chicken and drank vodka) before heading to the Mercer Hotel.

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“They were holding hands. They seemed really into each other,” a source says. “She was laying on him. She was laying on his shoulder. They were lounging around. He seemed really into her.”

The next night, Penn and his Sports Illustrated swimsuit model companion, who met at a birthday party at Kid Rock’s house last month, arrived hand-in-hand at Abe & Arthur’s in the Meatpacking District for model Noemie Lenoir’s birthday party.

“They are together all the time,” a source says. “They are pretty serious together. She wants to get serious with him and it seems like he is really into her too.”

People

Now that Sean Penn’s wife, Robin Wright, has decided to divorce him once and for all, the actor has turned to a familiar face for comfort — ex-wife Madonna!

A friend says Madonna, 51, and Sean, 49, have stayed in touch since having cocktails last November at New York’s Greenwich Hotel and have helped each other through their respective splits (she divorced Guy Ritchie in 2008).

And though she is casually dating Jesus Luz, “Madonna still considers Sean her soulmate,” her friend reveals. “It’s highly possible that she and Sean will somehow get back together now that they’ll both be divorced.”

The volatile pair were married from 1985-1989.

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Robin Wright Penn has filed for divorce from her husband Sean Penn, People has learned.

Papers were filed in Marin County, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Wright Penn’s filing states that “both parties have already agreed to [shared] custody” over their minor son, Hopper Jack, 16, and that “the estranged couple have already agreed to division of all property.”

Together since 1989 and married in 1996, the couple endured a roller-coaster relationship, filing papers of legal separation not once, but twice – only to patch things up again as recently as May.

In an interview released Monday, the actress told More magazine that she had no plans to reconcile with her husband. “I hit that crossroad a while ago,” she said. “I know what I don’t want.”


Regarding the much-discussed marriage of the two actors, friends tell More magazine for its September issue that the couple had a “peculiar chemistry.” Wright herself said, “I, we, have two amazing children we raised together.”

This fall, daughter Dylan Frances, 18, is headed off to college, with son Hopper Jack preparing to follow suit.

Source, Bauer-Griffin