Madonna and Sean Penn‘s whirlwind romance resulted in a quickie wedding that shocked Hollywood in 1985. At the time, the two gorgeous romantics were rising stars in the industry. Madonna was a bit ahead, and as soon as they tied the knot, Penn became “Mr. Madonna.”
Four years later, the tension and fame became too much for the actor to handle, and the couple’s infidelity rumors and abuse claims began flooding out of their home, straight into the open arms of the entertainment world.
Now, REELZ’s new docuseries, Madonna & Sean Penn: Irreconcilable Differences, looks back at Penn, 58, and Madonna’s troubled relationship — and all the things that went wrong.
“In Hollywood prenuptial agreements are commonplace, as they should be, because if there are a lot of assets or there is the expectation of a lot of assets and property, we need to kind of deal with that prophylactically so that it doesn’t become a big, long protracted litigation — that’s not good for anyone,” explains celebrity lawyer, Jill Stanley, in the show teaser.
She adds that the actor and his singing beauty of wife reused to get a prenup, mostly because they “were both a little too romantic,” and also because neither of them had much to lose at the time.
“I don’t think either of them would’ve done that. It would’ve surprised me,” says Stanley.
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As issues began to arise and their careers began to flourish, however, they realized they had to protect their wealth — and their hearts.
“They decided to have a postnuptial agreement, which is an agreement much like a prenup, except you do it during the marriage. And my sense of that would be that there were troubles in the marriage and they decided that they wanted to deal with the economic issues, get them out of the way and give them more time to work on their marriage,” says divorce lawyer, Robert Cohen in the teaser. “And I think that was a very good idea although obviously it didn’t work.”
Madonna & Sean Penn: Irreconcilable Differences airs Thursday, October 25 at 9 ET / PT.
