Big Hollywood divorce

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Sean Penn and Robin Wright Penn are entering a state of divorce.

The Hollywood twosome, who fell in love on the set of the 1990 thriller State of Grace and later married, are seeking a divorce after 11 years of marriage, according to People.

Penn's longtime publicist, Mara Buxbaum, did not provide details on the split.

The 47-year-old actor-director and the 41-year-old Wright began dating about a year after Penn ended his four-year union to Madonna in 1989.

The couple quickly hit it off and moved in together in 1991. They had two children, 16-year-old Dylan Frances and 14-year-old Hopper Jack, and finally tied the knot in 1996.

Penn raised eyebrows in April when he appeared at a Hollywood police station in the wear hours to comfort Eve following her DUI arrest. Police described Penn as simply "a friend" of the rapper-actress and he declined to comment on the visit.

The actor, who has been making headlines in recent years as an outspoken critic of the Bush administration and the Iraq War, won an Academy Award for his stirring performance as a father whose child is murdered in 2003's Mystic River. He also scored Best Actor Oscar nominations for 1995's Dead Man Walking, 1999's Sweet and Lowdown and 2001's I Am Sam.

Aside from Grace, the Dallas-born Wright Penn costarred with her Oscar-winning hubby in 1997's She's So Lovely and 1998's Hurly Burly, and they are reuniting in Barry Levinson's suddenly aptly titled Hollywood satire, What Just Happened?, which will debut at next month's Sundance Film Festival. She has also appeared in two flicks Penn has helmed, 1995's The Crossing Guard and 2001's The Pledge, both starring Jack Nicholson.

The actress, who was previously married for two years to actor Dane Witherspoon, shot to fame playing the titular royal Buttercup in the 1987 hit The Princess Bride. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1994's Forrest Gump.

Penn's most recent directorial effort, Into The Wild, is currently being lauded by various critics groups as the best film of 2007, so far earning two Golden Globe nods and four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Hollywood's influential kids

What comes to mind when you hear the name Shiloh? Chances are it's not the Civil War battleground or the hard-luck dog.

Most likely, it's the oft-photographed child of A-list couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, better known by their tabloid moniker "Brangelina." That wide-spread awareness has earned the A-list kiddie a spot at the top of Forbes' first-ever look at which Hollywood babies have the most effect on pop culture.

To determine which tykes were tops, we looked at both Web presence and press clippings for more than 50 A-list offspring (5 years old and younger) over the course of a year. Then, with a whittled-down list, we reached out to Encino, Calif.-based polling firm E-Poll Market Research for both awareness data for the kids and consumer-appeal rankings for their celebrity parents.

Shiloh's first-place showing comes from strong rankings across the board. Thanks to high-profile parents with an even more high-profile history, her arrival was long-awaited and -- no surprise -- much covered. In fact, the adorable 1-year-old, the only biological child of the globe-trotting set, popped up in more than 2,000 articles over the course of the year.

The rest of the Jolie-Pitt brood isn't far behind. Two-year-old Zahara ranks third, behind Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' 1-year-old daughter Suri. And 4-year-old Pax, who's remained in the public eye since his high-profile adoption earlier this year, comes in fifth. (Six-year-old Maddox was too old to qualify for the list.)

Rounding out the top five is Sean Preston Federline, who has tabloid-target mom Britney Spears to thank for a fourth-place ranking. After all, if it weren't for the former pop-tart's questionable parenting skills (think: driving with the pint-size star on her lap), the 2-year-old wouldn't have landed second when it comes to both Web and press presence.

But why the fascination with folks that can barely talk, much less engage in gossip-worthy behavior?

"We can't really identify with the lives celebrities lead and the luxuries they have," explains Danielle Friedland, founder of celebrity-babies.com, a popular Web site entirely devoted to star progeny. "But what we can identify with is their parenting and their love for their children."

As a result of the attention and money their parents earn, celebrity kids instantly become mini-style icons to size up and swoon over, adds Sarah Ivens, editor in chief of OK! magazine: "We're now as fascinated by the fact that Suri has taken off to Paris and Berlin in little Burberry outfits as we are by what Scarlett Johansson is wearing."

In Video: Best-Selling Celebrity Babies

Of course, when it comes to tabloid interest, not all star kiddies are created equal. And while it often breaks down by their parent's popularity, sometimes a child can actually boost a mom or dad's appeal.

Ivens offers Suri as example, claiming both her celebrity parents and their relationship were the subject of much scrutiny before the tot entered the picture. But since Suri, who is frequently snapped with her doting parents romping about the world, the couple's relationship has become more believable and romantic. "It's made them more of a proper fairytale," she says.

New York Bureau Chief of photo agency World Entertainment News Network Jill Stempel agrees: "[Suri's] completely resuscitated Tom Cruise's career," she says, "and it's kind of humanized him."

And while it's easiest to point fingers at tabloids for exploiting the coo-worthy set, celebrity parents are often in on the action. In fact, selling exclusive first photos has become an increasingly popular means for star parents to control the media maelstrom.

Among the bold-face names to cut deals with the celebrity press: Pitt and Jolie, who reportedly banked $4.1 million from People magazine for the first shots of Shiloh (the humanitarian duo donated the proceeds to charity). Larry Birkhead reportedly scored some $2 million of his own from OK! magazine for exclusive first photos of seventh-place daughter Dannielynn.

But with or without the splashy photo sale, In Touch Weekly Editor in Chief Richard Spencer believes there just might be a healthy byproduct of the unrelenting tabloid attention.

"I'd like to think that Britney Spears does put the seatbelt on the children now," he says, "knowing that so many paparazzi are photographing that."