Actor and director Sean Penn’s son has told how his father’s ultimatum gave him the motivation he needed to kick his crystal meth addiction.
Hopper Penn, 23, said he had just woken up in hospital when the star asked him: “Rehab? Or bus bench?”
Realising it was time to make a change, he responded: “I’ll take the bed.”
Speaking to ES Magazine, Hopper explained how the break-up of his parents, Sean and House Of Cards star Robin Wright, in 2010 sent him spiralling into a “bad crowd” and addiction.
“I was doing a lot of stuff but meth was the main one that brought me down,” he said.
“Thank God I got out of that because that was the worst time of my life.”
He added that the Milk star continued his fatherly support by casting his son in his 2016 film The Last Face to give him “a little structure”.
But despite Hopper’s debut on the big screen, which has led to a role alongside Brad Pitt in this year’s War Machine and a modelling contract with Fendi, he said he was not ready to quit his day job.
On dividing his time between showbusiness and working at a pizza restaurant, he said: “I’ve told myself when I do four movies, then I can consider myself an actor.”
