Charlie Sheen is giving fans an unfiltered look into his life in his upcoming book, The Book of Sheen, and Netflix docuseries, aka Charlie Sheen.
The 60-year-old actor, who attended the Los Angeles premiere on Thursday with the support of ex-wife Denise Richards, spoke openly about parts of his past he had long kept private, including sexual encounters with men.
Flipping the Script on His Life
Sheen told People that he “flipped the menu over” when deciding to explore same-sex experiences.
“I’m not going to run from my past, or let it own me,” he explained, describing a journey of self-reflection that unfolded during periods of drug use.
He admitted that his sexual experiences with men happened while he was using crack, saying, “That’s where it was born, or sparked.
And in whatever chunks of time that I was off the pipe, trying to navigate that, trying to come to terms with it — ‘Where did that come from?… Why did that happen?’ — and then just finally being like, ‘So what?’ Some of it was weird.
A lot of it was f**king fun. And life goes on.’”
Keeping Secrets and Facing Extortion
On Good Morning America, Sheen explained why he had kept these encounters under wraps for so long.
“It did come with a tremendous amount of extortion,” he said.
“At the time, I was just, ‘All right, let’s just pay to keep it quiet, and hope it stays there, make it go away.’
They had videoed things or whatever and had stuff over me, so that was kind of held hostage, you know, and that’s a bad feeling.”
Sheen also reflected on publicly revealing his HIV status in 2015, saying the announcement was “a tremendous relief” and helped him feel a sense of freedom from the burden of secrecy.
Finding Liberation in Honesty
In the docuseries, when asked about discussing his same-sex encounters for the first time, Sheen called it “liberating.”
He added, “It’s f-cking liberating… [to] just talk about stuff. It’s like a train didn’t come through the side of the restaurant.
A f***ing piano didn’t fall out of the sky. No one ran into the room and shot me,” showing his humor even in deeply personal revelations.
Life After Addiction
Sheen has been sober for eight years and has focused on making amends to those he’s hurt.
He emphasized that the book and docuseries are not about playing the victim, but about telling his story honestly.
From Rising Star to Household Name
Born Carlos Irwin Estévez, Sheen is the son of Emmy-winning actor Martin Sheen.
He started acting in minor roles in his father’s films before gaining attention in Red Dawn (1983) and earning critical acclaim in Platoon (1986).
He played a morally complex stockbroker in Wall Street (1987), which helped solidify his Hollywood status.
Sheen became a household name on the hit series Two and a Half Men, before being fired in 2011 due to erratic behavior tied to his substance use.
A Quieter Life as a Father
Today, Sheen, father of five, leads a more subdued life.
He shares a daughter, Cassandra, 40, with high school sweetheart Paula Profit.
With ex-wife Denise Richards, he has daughters Sami, 21, and Lola, 20.
He is also the father of 16-year-old twins Bob and Max from his marriage to ex Brook Mueller.
Reflecting on his romantic life, Sheen told People, “My romantic life is as uneventful as it possibly could be, and it’s been that way for a long time.
It wasn’t even by choice… I had to get to a place where I could be alone, but not lonely.”
Release Dates and What’s Next
Fans can get a full look at Sheen’s story when The Book of Sheen releases on September 9, followed by the Netflix docuseries aka Charlie Sheen on September 10.