Two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn has had failed marriages with Madonna and actress Robin Wright, but The Gunman star is still willing to give marriage another shot. Penn, who has been dating fellow Oscar winner Charlize Theron for over a year, explained in Esquire U.K.‘s March issue that his past unions were the actions of a “less informed” man and that he’d go into a new marriage with an open mind.

“You say I’ve been married twice before but I’ve been married under circumstances where I was less informed than I am today, so I wouldn’t even consider it a third marriage, I’d consider it a first marriage on its own terms if I got married again,” Penn told Esquire U.K.’s Alex Blimes, adding that he likes the tradiation of marriage. “A friend of mine wrote a line, ‘Without tradition, new things die.’ And I don’t want new things to die.”

Penn has been linked to his longtime friend Theron since the end of 2013, and rumors began to spread late last December that the couple got engaged. His representatives quickly shut down those rumors, but they’re starting to spread again now that he’s directing her in The Last Face. The couple shot the film together in South Africa last fall.

His relationship is his third relationship to make headlines, and Penn is still commonly associated with his ex-wife Madonna, who he was married to from 1985 to 1989. Penn says that his current relationship with Madonna is “very friendly,” but a stark difference from the “tempestuous” dynamic they had during their marriage. The director then wed House of Cards star Robin Wright in 1996, and they had Penn’s daughter Dylan and son Hopper together. The couple divorced in 2010, and while he wouldn’t comment on his relationship with Wright, Penn assured Blimes that he’s “on extremely good terms with the children I share with my ex-wife.”

Despite all of Penn’s marriage issues, he had nothing but positive words to say about the tradition of marriage and the idea of opening yourself up to someone and finding a shared ethic. However, he added that he’s struggled with finding the right match over the years.

“I have found myself in situations where my ethics were adopted for the period of the relationship and then the floor was pulled out from under me. And perhaps that person would say the same thing. I don’t know,” said Penn. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes. And some of that is idealizing a relationship or a person in a certain way. Or falling victim to the way they seem idealized.”

The director didn’t blame either of his exes for his two divorces, and stated that divorces result from “failures to that person, to a marriage, to a friendship, to yourself during that time as well.”