Fact #167595
When:
Short story:
The wedding of Madonna and Sean Penn takes place at 6970 Wildlife Rd, Point Dume, Malibu, California, USA, the $6.5m clifftop home of real estate developer Kurt Unger.
Full article:
Judge John Merrick : I've known Sean Penn's family for years, they're near neighbours in Malibu, which is why they rang and asked me if I'd conduct the wedding ceremony. I've done a good many celebrity marriages but, even by those standards, the security was unusually tight. Even I didn't know exactly where it would be held until the night before but, as it turned out, it was within walking distance of my house.
Dave Hogan (photographer) : I was out in LA covering the wedding for the News Of The World. We knew it was happening that day but the precise location was shrouded in secrecy. We'd gone up early in the day in helicopters looking for marquees or any signs of a wedding, but we didn't see anything. Then Sean Penn and his mates went down on the beach and scrawled 'FUCK OFF' in huge letters in the sand, directly below the spot where the ceremony was going to be. So that was how we realised it was in Kurt Unger's house.
Maggie Hall (journalist): For Unger, the whole thing was a promotional setup, because his house was up for sale. He was hoping that, by staging the wedding there, it would be enough free advertising to sell the house. It wasn't.
Judge John Merrick : I walked up to the house about an hour before the ceremony and got there at the same time as Cher. She had to show her invitation to get in, but the guards had been told to expect me. We all sat in the house watching television because it was showing helicopter shots of the caterer's van coming up the highway. The journalists must have figured out it was Spago's doing the catering and they followed the van up the highway.
Maggie Hall : In the street outside there were hundreds of press members gathered to see the display of stars who walked up the long driveway. I saw Madonna's grandmother having to trudge up the driveway on foot, and she had a look of dismay on her face when she saw the crowd she had to pass through to get to her grand-daughter's wedding. Imagine that - even the grandmother had to run the press gauntlet. You'd think Madonna would have been considerate enough to have at least sent a golf cart down.
Dave Hogan : People went to incredible lengths to try and get in, but they'd hired off-duty police as security and it was almost impossible. There was one Italian paparazzi who'd somehow got hold of the location before anybody else, and he dug himself in inside the grounds before the security arrived. He was wearing the leaves, the greasepaint, the webbing, total camouflage gear. He'd have got away with it too, except he was so well hidden that one of these big hulking security guys came and stood on him without even realising. He told me he managed to stand the pain for about half a minute, then he had to shout out.
Andy Warhol : It was just the most exciting weekend of my life. We rode in a limo out to Malibu and when we saw helicopters in the distance we knew we were at the wedding. About ten helicopters were hovering, it was like Apocalypse Now. One ·helicopter had a girl hanging off with a camera and they were all trying to get in close.
Judge John Merrick : The guest list was pretty impressive, mostly film people. Martin Sheen was there with his son Emilio Estevez. I don't remember everybody but I saw Christopher Walken, Carrie Fisher, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Cruise and Diane Keaton. Madonna's sister Paula was best maid, and Jamie Foley, who directed At Close Range, was the best man. David Geffen of Geffen Records was there too, and the tv talk show host, David Letterman.
Andy Warhol : I looked really close at Madonna and she is beautiful. She wore white, and a black bowler hat, I don't know what that was supposed to mean. And someone said that Sean had shot at the helicopters the night before.
Judge John Merrick : The actual ceremony was perfectly standard. Nothing was changed from what I usually do except that because of the helicopters hovering directly above, I was shouting and Sean and Madonna were answering as loud as they could. She seemed to enjoy it, but I think she was upset that friends and family, even the ones standing nearby, couldn't hear what was being said.
James Day : (movie producer) : Guests were hoping Sylvester Stallone would would turn up and do a Rambo on the 'copters.
Christopher Walken : The ceremony was lovely. Madonna was lovely but I couldn't hear a thing. Nobody could.
John Daly (guest) : They had a good, big kiss when they were pronounced man and wife and then they went into the house and up onto the balcony, where Madonna tossed her bouquet to her sister Paula. Then Sean disappeared under Madonna's dress, which got a big cheer from the crowd. He emerged with her garter, and threw it backward. His brother Chris caught it.
Judge John Merrick : The reception was held in a huge tent. Madonna loves pizza and that was the main dish, a big plateful of it. I was surprised by the music because I expected modern rock but the deejay seemed to play a lot of 40s and 50s tunes.
Cher : As she was about to cut the cake she turned to me and said "Hey, you've done this before. Do you just cut one piece or do you have to slice up the whole thing?"
Andy Warhol : Cher said "As if I know." And then Madonna was asking people if she should put the cake on plates, and she was just handing it to everyone in her hand, you know, being earthy.
Douglas Thompson (author) : Malcolm McLaren's Madame Butterfly was blasting from the loudspeakers by the time the waiters started pouring $100 bottles of Cristal champagne. As well as the pizzas, there was a five tier hazelnut cake with sugar flowers; lobster ravioli; rack of lamb; swordfish and baked potatoes stuffed with sour cream and caviar.
Erica Bell : While everyone was dancing downstairs, Paula (Madonna's sister) came up to the bathroom. While she was fixing her lipstick, she got into a rage. 'I can't believe this is happening. This should be my wedding day, not hers. I should be the famous one. This should be my career.' Honestly, it was like ·a scene straight of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? It was totally crazy. We all just sort of looked at each other and said 'Gee, she can't be serious'. Debi M (Madonna's make-up person) and I sort of backed out of the room. From then on, Paula was insanely jealous of her sister's success.
Dave Hogan : I spent a lot of the day with Kip Rano who was doing it for National Enquirer. Security was so tight that nobody was getting anywhere. Once the reception got going, Kip suddenly appeared in an immaculate white suit and said "Right, I'm off over." He dodged the guards and went over the wall. He managed to con everybody in the tent for about half an hour, including Madonna herself, by passing himself off as a friend of Sean's but eventually Sean caught on and came after him.
Kip Rano (photographer) : Suddenly he (Sean Penn) threw two punches at me. I blocked his blows and didn't return them because he was obviously drunk. Instead, I grabbed his wrists, then we were wrestling and fell to the floor. The security people pulled him off me and escorted me to the gate.
Andy Warhol : Steve Rubell (owner of Studio 54) was really out of it on, I guess, quaaludes. And I think I saw Madonna kick him away from her and later he threw up in the car.
Madonna : The whole time was almost too much. I mean, I didn't think I was going to be getting married with thirteen helicopters flying over my head. It turned into a circus.
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Dave Hogan (photographer) : I was out in LA covering the wedding for the News Of The World. We knew it was happening that day but the precise location was shrouded in secrecy. We'd gone up early in the day in helicopters looking for marquees or any signs of a wedding, but we didn't see anything. Then Sean Penn and his mates went down on the beach and scrawled 'FUCK OFF' in huge letters in the sand, directly below the spot where the ceremony was going to be. So that was how we realised it was in Kurt Unger's house.
Maggie Hall (journalist): For Unger, the whole thing was a promotional setup, because his house was up for sale. He was hoping that, by staging the wedding there, it would be enough free advertising to sell the house. It wasn't.
Judge John Merrick : I walked up to the house about an hour before the ceremony and got there at the same time as Cher. She had to show her invitation to get in, but the guards had been told to expect me. We all sat in the house watching television because it was showing helicopter shots of the caterer's van coming up the highway. The journalists must have figured out it was Spago's doing the catering and they followed the van up the highway.
Maggie Hall : In the street outside there were hundreds of press members gathered to see the display of stars who walked up the long driveway. I saw Madonna's grandmother having to trudge up the driveway on foot, and she had a look of dismay on her face when she saw the crowd she had to pass through to get to her grand-daughter's wedding. Imagine that - even the grandmother had to run the press gauntlet. You'd think Madonna would have been considerate enough to have at least sent a golf cart down.
Dave Hogan : People went to incredible lengths to try and get in, but they'd hired off-duty police as security and it was almost impossible. There was one Italian paparazzi who'd somehow got hold of the location before anybody else, and he dug himself in inside the grounds before the security arrived. He was wearing the leaves, the greasepaint, the webbing, total camouflage gear. He'd have got away with it too, except he was so well hidden that one of these big hulking security guys came and stood on him without even realising. He told me he managed to stand the pain for about half a minute, then he had to shout out.
Andy Warhol : It was just the most exciting weekend of my life. We rode in a limo out to Malibu and when we saw helicopters in the distance we knew we were at the wedding. About ten helicopters were hovering, it was like Apocalypse Now. One ·helicopter had a girl hanging off with a camera and they were all trying to get in close.
Judge John Merrick : The guest list was pretty impressive, mostly film people. Martin Sheen was there with his son Emilio Estevez. I don't remember everybody but I saw Christopher Walken, Carrie Fisher, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Cruise and Diane Keaton. Madonna's sister Paula was best maid, and Jamie Foley, who directed At Close Range, was the best man. David Geffen of Geffen Records was there too, and the tv talk show host, David Letterman.
Andy Warhol : I looked really close at Madonna and she is beautiful. She wore white, and a black bowler hat, I don't know what that was supposed to mean. And someone said that Sean had shot at the helicopters the night before.
Judge John Merrick : The actual ceremony was perfectly standard. Nothing was changed from what I usually do except that because of the helicopters hovering directly above, I was shouting and Sean and Madonna were answering as loud as they could. She seemed to enjoy it, but I think she was upset that friends and family, even the ones standing nearby, couldn't hear what was being said.
James Day : (movie producer) : Guests were hoping Sylvester Stallone would would turn up and do a Rambo on the 'copters.
Christopher Walken : The ceremony was lovely. Madonna was lovely but I couldn't hear a thing. Nobody could.
John Daly (guest) : They had a good, big kiss when they were pronounced man and wife and then they went into the house and up onto the balcony, where Madonna tossed her bouquet to her sister Paula. Then Sean disappeared under Madonna's dress, which got a big cheer from the crowd. He emerged with her garter, and threw it backward. His brother Chris caught it.
Judge John Merrick : The reception was held in a huge tent. Madonna loves pizza and that was the main dish, a big plateful of it. I was surprised by the music because I expected modern rock but the deejay seemed to play a lot of 40s and 50s tunes.
Cher : As she was about to cut the cake she turned to me and said "Hey, you've done this before. Do you just cut one piece or do you have to slice up the whole thing?"
Andy Warhol : Cher said "As if I know." And then Madonna was asking people if she should put the cake on plates, and she was just handing it to everyone in her hand, you know, being earthy.
Douglas Thompson (author) : Malcolm McLaren's Madame Butterfly was blasting from the loudspeakers by the time the waiters started pouring $100 bottles of Cristal champagne. As well as the pizzas, there was a five tier hazelnut cake with sugar flowers; lobster ravioli; rack of lamb; swordfish and baked potatoes stuffed with sour cream and caviar.
Erica Bell : While everyone was dancing downstairs, Paula (Madonna's sister) came up to the bathroom. While she was fixing her lipstick, she got into a rage. 'I can't believe this is happening. This should be my wedding day, not hers. I should be the famous one. This should be my career.' Honestly, it was like ·a scene straight of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? It was totally crazy. We all just sort of looked at each other and said 'Gee, she can't be serious'. Debi M (Madonna's make-up person) and I sort of backed out of the room. From then on, Paula was insanely jealous of her sister's success.
Dave Hogan : I spent a lot of the day with Kip Rano who was doing it for National Enquirer. Security was so tight that nobody was getting anywhere. Once the reception got going, Kip suddenly appeared in an immaculate white suit and said "Right, I'm off over." He dodged the guards and went over the wall. He managed to con everybody in the tent for about half an hour, including Madonna herself, by passing himself off as a friend of Sean's but eventually Sean caught on and came after him.
Kip Rano (photographer) : Suddenly he (Sean Penn) threw two punches at me. I blocked his blows and didn't return them because he was obviously drunk. Instead, I grabbed his wrists, then we were wrestling and fell to the floor. The security people pulled him off me and escorted me to the gate.
Andy Warhol : Steve Rubell (owner of Studio 54) was really out of it on, I guess, quaaludes. And I think I saw Madonna kick him away from her and later he threw up in the car.
Madonna : The whole time was almost too much. I mean, I didn't think I was going to be getting married with thirteen helicopters flying over my head. It turned into a circus.