Sean Penn's son, Hopper, arrested for drug possession — one year after saying his dad's 'tough love' helped him overcome meth addiction
Sean Penn recently said that he and ex-wife Robin Wright “did not share the same ethical views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children.” It makes us wonder how they’ll handle the latest challenge, which is the arrest of their son, Hopper, on drug possession charges.
The 24-year-old actor and model was arrested, along with his girlfriend Uma von Wittkamp, on Wednesday after a routine traffic stop for failing to signal in Nebraska, according to multiple reports. A search of the 1992 Volvo turned up 14 grams of marijuana, 4 amphetamine pills, and 3 grams of psychedelic mushrooms, Page Six and TMZ confirmed. Hopper was booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin, which is in the mushrooms) and possession of marijuana (one ounce or less). Von Wittkamp, with whom Hopper has been stepping out publicly since 2015, was booked for two counts of possession of controlled substances for the mushrooms and amphetamines. Possession of a controlled substance is a felony in Nebraska.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department provided Yahoo with Hopper’s and von Wittkamp’s mug shots.
Hopper Jack Penn, who is named after the late Dennis Hopper (as well as Jack Nicholson), has been candid about his drug troubles. In an interview with London’s ES Magazine last year, he revealed that he had a crystal meth addiction. It was his dad’s tough love that helped him beat it, he said.
“I was pretty bad,” said the War Machine actor. “I just got caught a lot doing stuff, you know? Whether it was my parents or the cops.” Hopper said he went from being “a pothead” to taking crystal meth. “I was doing a lot of stuff,” he says, “but meth was the main one that brought me down.” He got help after an ultimatum from his dad. “I went to rehab because I woke up in a hospital and my dad was like: ‘Rehab? Or bus bench?’ I was like, ‘I’ll take the bed,’” he recalled.
Hopper has made headlines for his troubles before. In 2013, he used racial and gay slurs during a dispute with a photographer. In 2009, he was arrested for illegal drug possession of the painkiller Vicodin at Malibu High School, People magazine reported.
On his recent book tour, Sean made it clear that he and his House of Cards star ex-wife, who ended their marriage for good in 2010, don’t see eye to eye on parenting.
“Um, we don’t not get along,” he said on Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast last month. “We have very separate relationships with our kids at this point, and it seems to work out better that way. They are making their own decisions, and as it turned out, she and I did not share the same ethical thoughts or views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children.”
Penn continued, “It was better for her to be entirely whatever she is and available to them — and they love their mother and they have that relationship — and for me to be entirely available but also … we’re always going to have conflicting ethics.” When asked for clarification about that, he refused to answer. “That would be getting too much into my kids’ personal life.”
Reps for Sean Penn and Wright have not yet replied to Yahoo’s request for comment.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
