Celebrity Mound

Sean Penn shocked onlookers in Dublin, Ireland on Monday by parading around in lipstick and a fuzzy wig – but it was all in the name of his art.

The Milk star is playing a wealthy, retired rocker who embarks on a quest to find the German officer who executed his father in This Must Be the Place.

Penn, who turned 50 last week, was photographed looking solemn as he donned earrings and full make-up as he shot scenes on location in the city.

The film, which marks Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s English debut, is due for release next year.

The two were recently spotted having drinks with friends at the Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar.

“They kissed, sat close and ignored everyone,” said an onlooker.

The next night — after Jessica was filmed for a documentary on her life at the launch party for men’s clothing line Tween — the duo had dinner with Spike Lee, his wife and others on the Upper East Side. “She mentioned she was back on with ‘her man,’ on- and off-camera,” said a source at the party.

Penn’s rep said, “It’s not true” they were dating again.

Sean Penn pleaded no contest to vandalism on Wednesday, effectively ending a case in which the Oscar-winning actor was videotaped kicking a celebrity photographer.

Penn was not present in court and entered the plea through his attorney. He was sentenced to three years of informal probation and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service, said city attorney’s spokesman Frank Mateljan.

Mateljan says those hours can be completed through Penn’s earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti.

He was also ordered to undergo 36 hours of anger management counseling and stay 100 yards away from the photographer.

Penn was charged in February with misdemeanor battery and vandalism for the October dustup and faced up to 18 months in jail if convicted.

“Prolonging this matter in the court system would not have been in Mr. Penn’s best interests and would have distracted from his charitable commitments, specifically his work in Haiti,” Penn’s attorney Richard Hirsch said. “Accordingly he has decided to accept the terms and move on.”

If he completes the terms of his sentence, Penn will be allowed to reduce the charge to disturbing the peace.

Mateljan said a restitution hearing for the photographer will be held July 8. The photographer, Jordan Dawes, has sued Penn in civil court. That case remains active.

Penn, 49, has won two best actor Oscars for roles in “Mystic River” and “Milk.” He has made a major humanitarian push in Haiti since the country was devastated by an earthquake in January, co-founding the Jenkins-Penn Haiti Relief Organization.

The group provide medical care, water filters and food and has opened a health clinic for mothers and victims of a growing sexual assault epidemic.

Until the recent case, the actor has remained out of trouble after several run-ins with photographers and the law in the 1980s.

Sean Penn, who has been helping relief workers in Haiti, has harsh words for the folks who think his do-gooding is an attempt to distract the world from his high profile divorce from actress Robin Wright Penn.

In an interview to air on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” this weekend, Penn told journalist Lara Logan that he has been so busy in Haiti he hasn’t had much time for his critics — but he did offer a few choice words to his foes.

“Do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah,” he later told Logan. “But I’m not going to spend a lot of energy on it.”

Penn was in Haiti for a second time, having visited the quake-torn country in January with a suitcase of cash in tow. The actor helped aid workers purchase new X-ray machines and ventilators.

Last year, Robin Wright Penn filed for divorce from Penn after a 20-year roller-coaster relationship.

The couple were married in 1996 but initiated divorce proceedings twice before calling it quits for good in August.

On the possibility of reconciling with her husband again, Robin Wright Penn told More magazine: “I hit that crossroad a while ago. I know what I don’t want.”

The star, 49, who canceled two movies to try to save his marriage, has been dating swimsuit model Jessica White, 25.

But Penn was spotted last weekend at North Hollywood’s No Bar with a new beauty, “also tall, hot, young-looking, with dark hair,” an eyewitness told E! Online’s Mark Malkin. Penn and the unidentified woman celebrated her friend’s 21st birthday “rubbing each other’s backs and whispering in each other’s ears . . . She looked really excited introducing her friends to him for the first time.”

(source)