What you need to know
Garcelle Beauvais is opening up about her friendship with Sean Penn.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, 59, met Penn, 65, when she started working for Penn’s disaster response organization CORE (Community Organized Relief Operations) more than a decade ago. Peng and Ang Lee co-founded CORE after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake killed more than 220,000 people in Haiti in 2010.
“I’m from Haiti, so when Sean rushed to Haiti right after the earthquake, it meant the world to me,” Beauvais told PEOPLE at CORE’s 15th anniversary livestream benefit concert in Los Angeles on Dec. 9. “I’m new to volunteering and I’m really an advocate for what they do. Sean and Anne are doing a really great job.”
When Beauvais met Penn, she said, “he spoke Creole, one of the official languages of Haiti.” “When I heard him speaking Creole, I thought, ‘What the hell is going on?'” she recalls.
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Beauvais added that Penn is a “warrior.”
“I don’t know about him, but this guy has guts and guts,” she says. “He was brave, and when there was an earthquake in Haiti and the infrastructure was still shaking, he went into the scene without thinking. And he did it over and over again. He’s not just an actor. He’s a great human being.”
Beauvais previously revealed that she dated Penn on an episode of RHOBH when co-star Erika Jayne asked her about the “biggest stars” she’s dated. “Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Sean Penn,” Beauvais said.
CORE’s 15th Anniversary Livestream Benefit Concert featured performances by Arcade Fire’s Win and Regine, Beach Weather, Claire Rosinkrantz, Medium Build, Remi Wolf, and Saint Motel. In addition to Beauvais, the gala, which was attended by stars such as Casey Affleck and Soleil Moon Frye, raised money for the organization’s emergency response efforts around the world.
During the evening, Penn shared a heartfelt message of hope and resilience, and also thanked the audience for their generous support of CORE’s ongoing mission to directly reach and respond to the most vulnerable communities in crisis.
