Penn is now said to be firmly on the straight and narrow, but in the days of the Poison Penns, Sean and first wife Madonna were a tabloid dream.

During filming of Shanghai Surprise, Sean was arrested for dangling someone out of a hotel window and then literally escaped jail when the cell door was left open.

Another legendary night in the life of Penn ended with the star hitting a photographer with a rock.

Shortly after Madonna reversed her claim that Penn assaulted her (Sean couldn’t rely on his clean background - he was once jailed for assaulting an extra on the set of Colors), the singer popped up with divorce papers.

Madonna looks back on the marriage with a degree of sadness. Penn? Well he sees it this way: "It was all rumour. I never met the woman."