Sean Penn reveals why he skipped the Oscars this year
Sean Penn is sharing why he decided to skip the 2026 Academy Awards despite taking home one of the night's top honors.
The actor and humanitarian earned his third Oscar in March, winning best supporting actor for his performance as Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another."
Instead of attending the ceremony, Penn spent the evening in Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During a conversation with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins at the Tribeca Festival on June 5, Penn said he deliberately arranged the trip to coincide with the Oscars.
The ceremony "always represented social discomfort to me," Penn said, adding that he now "won't go anywhere to be with a designated group beyond eight people...If you cut out two hours for your night, it gives you 15 minutes per person."
Any more than that, he said, "is just anxiety- and dread-provoking."
Penn's latest Oscar win follows his previous best actor victories for "Mystic River" and "Milk."
Looking back on those awards seasons, he said the main emotion he felt after winning was relief because of the expectations surrounding him.
The 65-year-old said he reached a turning point earlier this year after attending the Golden Globe Awards, which led him to step away from the remainder of the awards circuit.
"Knowing that I wasn't going to do that anymore, I did one before that this year. I went to the Golden Globes. I'd never been to that before and that's where I decided, 'I can't do this,'" he said.
Following the Oscars, it emerged that Penn had traveled to Ukraine, where he has made several visits since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
During the trip, Ukraine's state railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, presented him with a symbolic Oscar made from the "metal of a railway car damaged by Russian shelling."
In a post on X, the railway company said it knew Penn had missed the Academy Awards, so it "gave him one of his own" and described the award as a "symbol of resilience."
Penn also said those involved with "One Battle After Another," including Warner Bros., knew in advance that he would not be attending the ceremony.
"Everybody understood. They know me, and they felt that it was better for my mental health," he said.
During the discussion on Friday, Penn also spoke about his dislike of selfies and celebrity culture surrounding public events.
"People should not do selfies ever with anyone. It’s bad for you; it’s bad for everyone. It’s a soul-sucker," he said.
Watching the Oscars remotely turned out to be a different experience for the actor.
He said, "I really got to enjoy the Academy Awards for the first time. It was great."
