Who was Madonna's first husband?

Madonna's first husband was actor Sean Penn. The couple married in 1985, during the early peak of Madonna's rise from club performer to international pop superstar.

Madonna met Penn while working on the music video for “Material Girl” in January 1985. They began dating and married on August 16, 1985, which was Madonna's 27th birthday; Penn turned 25 the following day. Their relationship attracted intense media attention, and they appeared together in the film Shanghai Surprise the next year.

The marriage was turbulent and ended in divorce. Madonna filed divorce papers more than once before the divorce was finalized in 1989. She later described some reports about alleged violence during the marriage as false, so accounts of the relationship should distinguish documented legal events from disputed allegations.

Sean Penn was Madonna's first husband. Her later marriages included English filmmaker Guy Ritchie, whom she married in 2000 and divorced in 2008. Michael Jackson and Ashton Kutcher were never her husbands.