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Garcelle Beauvais stepped out on Dec. 9 to support CORE's 15th Anniversary Livestream Benefit Concert, a nonprofit humanitarian organization founded by Sean Penn
At the event, Beauvais recalled to PEOPLE what shocked her most when she first met Penn
Penn cofounded CORE after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Beauvais' native Haiti in 2010
Garcelle Beauvaisis opening up about her friendship withSean Penn.
TheReal Housewives of Beverly Hillsalum, 59, met Penn, 65, over a decade ago, when she began working with his disaster response organizationCORE(Community Organized Relief Effort). Penn and Ann Lee cofounded CORE after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, killing more than 220,000 people.
"I'm from Haiti, so when Sean rushed to Haiti right after the earthquake, it meant the world to me," Beauvais told PEOPLE at CORE's 15th Anniversary Livestream Benefit Concert in Los Angeles on Dec. 9. "I just started volunteering and really championing what they do. Sean and Ann do really great work."
When Beauvais met Penn she says "he spoke Creole," one of the official languages of Haiti. "When I heard him speaking Creole, I was like, 'What the hell is happening?'" she recalls.
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Beauvais adds that Penn is a "warrior."
"I don't know what it is about him, but this man has the guts, the balls," she says. "He's brave, and when the earthquake happened in Haiti and infrastructure was still shaking, he went in without even thinking about it. And he's done it over and over again. He's not just an actor. He's a great human being."
Beauvais previously revealed on an episode ofRHOBHthat she dated Penn when asked by costar Erika Jayne the "biggest star" she's gone on a date with. "Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Sean Penn," Beauvais said.
CORE's 15th Anniversary Livestream Benefit Concert featured performances from Win and Régine of Arcade Fire, Beach Weather, Claire Rosinkranz, Medium Build, Remi Wolf and Saint Motel. In addition to Beauvais, the celebration was attended by stars including Casey Affleck and Soleil Moon Frye and raised funds for the organization's emergency response efforts around the world.
During the evening, Penn delivered a heartfelt message of hope and resilience and also thanked the crowd for their generous support of CORE's ongoing mission to directly reach and respond to the most vulnerable communities in crisis.
Read the original article onPeople
