Penn says ex-wife Wright ‘a ghost to me now’

Guess Sean Penn and Robin Wright haven't stayed in touch since she filed for divorce last year.

"She is a ghost to me now," Penn, 49, tells Vanity Fair in a new interview "We spent all those years together. ... Now she's just gone."

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Wright, 44, submitted divorce papers last August. The couple had been together since 1989 and wed in 1996. They have two children: son Hopper Jack, 16, and daughter Dylan, 19.

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The spouses filed papers twice before — in December 2007 and in April 2009 — but reconciled shortly thereafter. Last year, the actress told More magazine that their marriage was definitely done. "I hit that crossroad a while ago ... I know what I don't want."

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Talking to historian Douglas Brinkley in Vanity Fair, Penn explains that his split has helped him become more of an activist and humanitarian — helping out in Haiti and other fragile, embattled parts of the world.

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"I was for 20 years in a relationship with Robin and 18 years with children. I didn't have time to commit to anything — for real — in places like Iraq, except to denounce the war. But now I’m single. I can lend a hand," Penn said.