Elizabeth McGovern reflects on brief romance with Sean Penn

Elizabeth McGovern has reflected on her brief relationship with Sean Penn back in the early '80s.

In an interview with The Daily Mail, the Downton Abbey star opened up about her romance with the actor after they met on the set of Racing with the Moon in 1984.

"We were only in our early 20s," she said, clarifying that she called off the relationship due to feeling like they were on "different paths".

"It would have been nothing short of a miracle had that become a lifelong partnership because we were both really young and figuring out who we were," she continued.

Calling the experience "exhausting," McGovern revealed that their relationship often revolved around the Milk star's "frenzy" of feelings.

"It was also the first real experience of boys I'd had, which was kind of nice," the 60-year-old admitted. "In the beginning it was fun. We were a similar age and in the same place professionally, so we were experiencing everything together."

Ultimately, McGovern believed the romance was unsustainable and pointed to their different approaches to life.

"It was so exhausting, I couldn't sustain it. We also wanted to do different things. He likes to pretend he's not really a Hollywood person, but he is," she concluded.