June 2001

Actor Sean Penn has finally quit his four-pack-a-day smoking habit after watching his father Leo Penn dying of lung cancer. Penn, who turned 40 last year, says he’d been trying to kick the habit for some time but it was seeing his movie director dad lose his battle with lung cancer that finally urged him into action. Penn says, “I always told myself that I should quit smoking at 30. By 40 there was no choice anymore. Watching my father die was the clincher.”

January 10, 2006

Actor Sean Penn admitting that the stress of living under the current administration was making it tough for him to quit smoking.