The way assistant staff described freeing Madonna from that situation in the report didn’t make matters any better for Penn. The article portrayed Madonna as being seriously distraught, with horrible marks all over her face from where he had hit her. One staff member claimed that poor Madonna’s mouth was actually “frothing,” when they found her.
According to Kent, Penn’s publicist pushed the incident under the rug, attributing it to “regular young couple stuff.” Even though it was all very far from the truth, it would prove to be the breaking point.
Jail Time
Penn’s hateful attitude towards the paparazzi is definitely no secret, not even from his biggest fans. In one of the most famous outbursts that happened in 1987, he was on set when he violently attacked a photographer.
This crazy, but not uncharacteristic, event landed him in the slammer for a little over 30 days – half of his court ordered sentence. Not too long after this, Madonna would file for divorce, but would withdraw the papers before they were pushed all the way through.
Questions Abound
In early 1989, a tabloid newspaper called The People, would put out an article that shocked the public to their core. Not only did the piece claim that Madonna was brutally beaten by Penn, but that he did things that made him sound like a complete sociopath. The article claimed that Penn tied Madonna to a chair, in the midst of the abuse. This type of information being linked to Penn truly confused his fans.
The behavior being described seemed so far away from anything they’d seen from Penn before, and they really didn’t want to believe that he had it in him to act this way. But according to the article’s author, Peter Kent, the reports were verified by law enforcement officials in Malibu.
Private Affairs
After the alleged incident involving the chair, Madonna appeared to give Penn another chance. They carried on the relationship for a short while after, until Madonna filed for divorce again. But unlike the last time she had filed, when she withdrew the papers, she put her foot down and made sure everything went through.
Several reports speculate why the marriage was ended, but Madonna never really cleared things up for the public. She told reporters that there were some things the pair would like to keep private.
False Reports
After the lengthy and very graphically detailed report put out by Peter Kent about how Penn had allegedly beaten Madonna, their relationship did in fact come to an end. But Madonna would later come to Penn’s defense when she told Entertainment Tonight that Kent’s report, and any reports that stemmed from it, were “entirely outrageous.”
She would go on to say that the reports were completely false. The two may have ended their romantic relationship, but they would later be able to cultivate a friendship after putting their troubled past behind them.