10 Most Obnoxious Stars In Hollywood

Sean Penn has worked so hard to transform his public persona from violent, abusive drunk and womaniser to intellectual artist and suavely liberal political animal that it’s actually possible that some people haven’t heard about the years of arrests for physical assaults on paparazzi, including shooting at them, and escaping an attempted murder charge in Macau by fleeing by sea.

It’s conceivable that stories of his drinking and tempestuous relationships with both wives, Madonna and Robin Wright, have passed you by. It’s possible that his much-praised humanitarian work in Haiti have blinded you to the entirely true story of how he famously went nuts at Madonna in 1988, climbing the wall of her home and tying her to a chair, beating and abusing her while drinking heavily.

But you’ll have heard all about Penn’s endless support of dodgy foreign regimes, from propping up his friend the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez in the press, to supporting the Argentinean government’s claim to the Falkland Islands, to visiting Iran and Iraq as an anti-American, anti-war campaigner. His political views are more than a little off-kilter even for other liberal activists.

More than that, it’s the fact that he feels he should have a platform to speak out against the injustices in the world as he sees them, when he’s been responsible for so much violence and abuse against others, including women. A hyper-aggressive little man with a horrendous past, a chip on his shoulder and a constant sour expression as if he’s sucking an angry lemon shouldn't be anyone’s idea of a role model.