Sean Penn talks about brother Chris Penn’s death: “the problem was weight”

Sean Penn has spoken frankly about his brother Chris Penn’s death in January this year.

Chris suddenly died aged just 40 and the coroner cited an enlarged heart as the cause, possibly related to drug use as there were traces of morphine, marijuana and codeine in Chris’s blood.

But Sean told CNN’s Larry King that he believes it was Chris’s weight that tipped the balance: “He had certainly been a fantastically self-abusing guy over periods of his life, but that wasn’t the case in the end.”

“I mean, it was a natural death. But a natural death that was brought on by some hard living, but particularly weight.”

Sean also revealed losing his brother felt like losing a body part: “It’s a piece of you.”

“I’m one of three, so I’m either my right, left arm or the centre at various times, and each was the other, so I intermittently have lost my right arm, the left or in the centre, but that’s life and people go through that.”