Madonna has given her ex-husband Sean Penn her support in his ongoing $10 million defamation case, insisting the Oscar winner never assaulted her.
In September, the Milk star filed papers with the State Supreme Court of New York, alleging filmmaker Lee Daniels made “false and defamatory statements” about him in relation to domestic abuse, while defending Terrence Howard after his Empire leading man confessed to lashing out at his ex-wives in a Rolling Stone interview.
After Penn filed the lawsuit, Daniels responded by filing a request for dismissal, citing America’s First Amendment of free speech. While the result of Daniels’ motion has yet to be revealed, Penn is continuing strike back at the filmmaker by calling on his ex-wife Madonna to formally state he never abused her.
On Thursday, Penn filed an amended complaint featuring a declaration under oath from the pop star that he never hit her during their relationship.
“I am aware of the allegations that have surfaced over the years accusing Sean of incidents of physical assault and abuse against me,” Madonna states in her declaration, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “Specifically, I am aware of the allegations concerning an alleged incident that occurred in June, 1978, whereby (according to tabloid reports), Sean allegedly struck me with ‘a baseball bat’. I know the allegations in those and other reports to be completely outrageous, malicious, reckless, and false.”
Madonna also referenced accusations of abuse during an incident in 1989, which allegedly resulted in Penn’s arrest for domestic assault and battery.
“While we certainly had more than one heated argument during our marriage, Sean has never struck me, ‘tied me up’, or physically assaulted me, and any report to the contrary is completely outrageous, malicious, reckless, and false,” Madonna states.
The amended lawsuit also reads: “Unfortunately for Daniels, his statements – which by direct reference to Howard’s misconduct, falsely accuse Penn of committing serious, multiple crimes against women – are not protected by the First Amendment,. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously observed almost 100 years ago, the First Amendment is not absolute. Just as it does not protect a person from ‘shouting fire in a crowded theatre’, it also does not protect defamatory conduct.”
The case is scheduled to be heard in court on January 16, 2016.
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