At 59 years old, Robin Wright is coming to terms with her past and looking forward to the future.
In a recent interview with The Times of London, the “House of Cards” alum opened up about the “huge regret” she has as a mother to her two children, whom she shares with ex-husband Sean Penn, and explained why she left Hollywood and found love and peace in the English countryside.
“I have a huge regret as a mother and have experienced the fallout of this regret for many years with my kids — I wasn’t hard enough on them,” said Wright, who shares daughter Dylan, 34, and son, Hopper, 32, with Penn.
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“But [Sean] was gone so much of the time,” she continued. “He’d come back and be the policeman and then he’d leave me with the residue. Then I would soften the blow. We were both extremes. They didn’t get that gray area in the middle, which is stern, and that is what they needed.”
Wright and Penn tied the knot in 1996 and finalized their divorce in 2010. They first began dating in 1989 after Penn divorced Madonna.
In 2014, Wright opened up about her divorce from Penn to The Telegraph and explained why they would break things off and get back together so often.
“Divorce in and of itself, and with children, is devastating. Worse than that,” she told the outlet at the time. “One of the reasons why we got back together and broke up so much was trying to keep the family together. If you’ve got kids, it’s a family, and you try again, and you try again. We did that for a long time.”
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After years in the spotlight – and three failed marriages – Wright said goodbye to the hustle and bustle of Hollywood and fled to England in hopes of finding peace.
“I love being in this country. There’s a freedom of self here. People are so kind,” she said. “They’re living. They’re not in the car in traffic, panicked on a phone call, eating a sandwich. That’s most of America. Everything’s rush, competition and speed.”
She added, “Everyone’s building a huge house and I’m just done with all that — I love the quiet. And I’ve met my person. Finally.”
Wright met her current love interest, Henry Smith, 52, in an English countryside pub nearly one year ago.
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“He is a sweetheart and just a good, decent adult. He’s a man,” she said.
The couple both came down with COVID-19 shortly after meeting and got to know each other on a whole new level.
“Getting to know each other in deep long COVID was like what’s that called at the airport? The fast track. We did a fast-track getting to know you because we were lying in bed deathly ill, crying, laughing, hugging, loving, snogging, f—ing,” said Wright. “Just like, ‘I want to know you.’”
“I love being alone and I’ve done that many times. But I’m, like, I want to grow old with somebody, and travel and see the world,” she added.
Wright, who has been working in the U.K. on Prime Video’s new six-episode drama, “The Girlfriend,” said she’s looking forward to moving to the English seaside with Smith to simply enjoy life.
“It’s liberating to be done,” she said. “Be done with searching, looking and getting 60 percent of what you wanted.”
“I’m seen and loved for who I am,” Wright added. “It’s so relaxing.”
