“What was that show other than aesthetic? That was its thing—the way we all looked,” he said. “I didn’t particularly love the superficial celebrity aspect of the way I was perceived.” 

Despite the reinforcement of the difficult beauty standard, Penn—who is dad to son James, 4, and stepdad to Cassius, 15, with pregnant wife Domino Kirke, 40—credited his ability to persist with his acting career to his spirituality.

“That is what allowed me to persevere through the disillusionment, all the things I’d been grappling with,” he explained, “and then come back to it all, but with hopefully some kind of inner transformation.” 

As for what Penn has turned his focus to these days? He noted that it’s “the simple stuff of life, like having a family, meaningful relationships with my friends.”

Read on to see more stars who have been open about their mental health journeys.