With a little arm-twisting by new flame Charlize Theron, actor Sean Penn decided to donate his 65 guns to artist Jeff Koons, who will melt the firearms down to create a sculpture.
The sculpture was auctioned off over the weekend at the “Milk” star’s third annual Help Haiti Home benefit at the Montage hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., E! Entertainment reported.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper won with a bid of $1.4 million, outbidding Piers Morgan by $100,000.
Mr. Penn didn’t mention Miss Theron by name, but said, “a strong woman who happens to be from South Africa” changed his mind about owning the guns, E! reported.
“Being provoked by this aforementioned strong woman and considering how liberating of [expletive] and ugliness it would be to not only get rid of the guns I have in the continental United States, but also to destroy them,” Mr. Penn said during the event.
“The highest bidder gets every single one of my guns put in the hands of this iconic artist and sculptor … Koons will decommission [and] render inactive all of my cowardly killing machines,” he said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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