The beginning of the end. On Wednesday, June 17, Us Weekly exclusively broke the news that Charlize Theron and Sean Penn had called it quits after a year and a half of dating, ending their engagement.
A source told Us that the Mad Max: Fury Road star, 39, was the one to end things with Penn, 54.
The split seemed sudden to fans who had seen the gorgeous couple walk the red carpet together at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in May, in addition to attending many public events together in recent months.
Theron recently gushed about Penn in the June issue of Elle UK, but admitted that working with him on the film The Last Face wasn’t easy.
“Putting aside that he’s my partner, he’s the love of my life; for the first time, I felt that my work was really bleeding into my life and that made it hard,” she told the mag at the time.
“There were moments where I was incredibly unfair to him,” she continued. “And moments where I felt like…he was incredibly unfair to me. But it makes you realize that no matter how complicated it gets, the priority is the relationship.”
And the pair seemed to prioritize one another. Back in April they made headlines on an adorable family outing at the generationOn West Coast Block Party where Theron spoke while Penn goofed off with her cute son Jackson, 3.
“Sean is very clearly fond of Jackson and they were acting like a happy little family,” an eyewitness told Us. “They were like each other’s little buddies.”
Penn then hit several Mad Max red carpets in May, helping the blonde stunner promote her action flick and posing next to her on the carpet. The pair then traveled to Cannes, France, for the annual film festival where they stole the show, embracing on the red carpet in front of dozens of photographers.
Most recently the couple attended the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria, in mid-May, where Theron promoted her Africa Outreach Project and Penn was a speaker.
“They were happy and beaming and you could tell that their belief in their causes is one of the deep connections between both of them,” a source told Us at the time. “They gave each other amazing hugs after both of their speeches.
The pair were spotted hugging and smooching throughout the event.
Tell Us: Are you surprised that Charlize Theron and Sean Penn split?
