Sean Penn, 52, who was married to Madonna for four years until 1989 and actress Robin Wright for 13 years - claims he feels he has never been loved. He told the January issue of
Esquire: "There is no shame in saying that we all want to be loved by someone. As I look back over my life in romance, I don't feel I've ever had that. I have been the only one that was unaware of the fraud in a few of these circumstances blindly."
He admitted his divorce from Robin - with whom he shares two children Dylan, 21, and Hopper, 19, - was a real eye opener after years of struggling with their on-again/off-again relationship.
He said: "When you get divorced, all the truths that come out, you sit there and you go, 'What the f*** was I doing? What was I doing believing that this person was invested in this way?' Which is a fantastically strong humiliation in the best sense. It can make somebody very bitter and very hard and closed off, but I find it does the opposite to me."
The actor believes being able to help the people of Haiti following the 2010 earthquake helped him recover as he adjusted to being a bachelor again.
He said: "I don't have anything. My daughter's doing her thing, my son's with his mother. So I turned on the TV and there was this earthquake in Haiti. You had a country that had never experienced anything that related to comfort, and out of that you had great trauma - but also this great strength that, I think, we all benefited from."