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Erin Jensen, USA TODAYSeptember 9, 2025 at 4:04 AM
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Charlie Sheen's decades-spanning career began with a mauling: he and costars George Clooney and Laura Dern served as snacks for an angry bear in the 1983 horror flick "Grizzly II: Revenge."
But over the years, Sheen, born Carlos Irwin Estévez, has starred in more headlines than movies or TV episodes. The son of actor Martin Sheen (Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez) and younger brother of Emilio Estevez is just as famous for acting roles as his reliance on drugs and alcohol, three marriages and divorces, fondness for sex workers, firing from CBS' Emmy-winning comedy "Two and a Half Men" and that "20/20" interview in which a wide-eyed Sheen bragged of "tiger blood" pumping through his veins and declared himself not to be bipolar, but "bi-winning. I win here, and I win there."
The cover of Charlie Sheen's memoir, "The Book of Sheen," available now.
Sheen, now 60 and sober, is looking back at it all in his memoir "The Book of Sheen," out Sept. 9. He's also planning a two-part Netflix documentary, "aka Charlie Sheen," that releases Sept. 10.
Charlie Sheen's memoir uncovers mischief with actor pals and sex workers
"The Book of Sheen" begins on the evening of his birth, when an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck threatened his life. Dr. Irwin Shaybone, for whom Sheen got his middle name, "beat on me like I owed him money," Sheen writes.
Sheen grew up among some of the most famous people in Hollywood, and shares everything from the seemingly mundane (eating spaghetti with Marlon Brando while his dad filmed "Apocalypse Now") to the truly unique (skipping out on rehab to go to a bikini contest with friend Nicolas Cage). Sheen recalls making childhood movies with Emilio and Chris Penn ("Footloose," "Reservoir Dogs"), playing ping pong with "classless bully" O.J. Simpson in front of Ava Gardner and Sophia Loren and knocking "the wheels off the drink cart" on a plane with George Clooney.
Sheen writes openly about losing his virginity as a high school sophomore to an escort in Vegas (which he paid for with his dad's credit card), buying two sex dolls at more than $7,000 a pop and getting liposuction after a sex worker called him "fatso."
But he's tight-lipped about what led to the breakups of his marriages to Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller, which he writes is out of respect for the children they share. Sheen is the father of Cassandra (with high school girlfriend Paula Profit), 40; Sami, 21 and Lola, 20 (with Richards); twins Max and Bob, 16 (with Mueller).
Charlie Sheen says crack took him to 'another galaxy'
Sheen first tried marijuana at 11, and cocaine in high school, he writes. He became fixated on the latter after filming Oliver Stone's best picture winner "Platoon" (1986).
"The main issue with the drug for me was how cunning it was," writes Sheen. "I'd be going about my day handling a bunch of not cocaine things, and in the next second be launched into a hair-on-fire obsession to get that drug into my bloodstream."
But crack was the drug Sheen said hooked him most. He first tried it in 1992, writing it put him in "another galaxy."
"People will claim their greatest feelings in life as 'my child's first steps' or 'saving that kid from a fire,'" Sheen writes. "To quote Matt Hooper from 'Jaws:' 'I got that beat.'"
"Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen is back in the spotlight with new documentary "aka Charlie Sheen." We've rounded up photos of the star through the years to mark the occasion.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/WHgKL7k class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
"Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen is back in the spotlight with new documentary "aka Charlie Sheen." We've rounded up photos of the star through the years to mark the occasion.
">"Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen is back in the spotlight with new documentary "aka Charlie Sheen." We've rounded up photos of the star through the years to mark the occasion.
" src=https://ift.tt/WHgKL7k class=caas-img>Charlie Sheen poses for a portrait on the set of FX's "Anger Management" on April 26, 2012.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/VaoDC3P class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Charlie Sheen poses for a portrait on the set of FX's "Anger Management" on April 26, 2012.
">Charlie Sheen poses for a portrait on the set of FX's "Anger Management" on April 26, 2012.
" src=https://ift.tt/VaoDC3P class=caas-img>Charlie Sheen on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."
" data-src=https://ift.tt/MjkO3Q4 class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Charlie Sheen on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."
">Charlie Sheen on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."
" src=https://ift.tt/MjkO3Q4 class=caas-img>Sheen attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing party on Feb. 28, 2016, in West Hollywood.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/40RXsMr class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Sheen attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing party on Feb. 28, 2016, in West Hollywood.
">Sheen attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Oscar viewing party on Feb. 28, 2016, in West Hollywood.
" src=https://ift.tt/40RXsMr class=caas-img>Sheen speaks during "An Evening with Charlie Sheen" at the Theatre Royal in London on June 19, 2016.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/9WEdViN class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Sheen speaks during "An Evening with Charlie Sheen" at the Theatre Royal in London on June 19, 2016.
">Sheen speaks during "An Evening with Charlie Sheen" at the Theatre Royal in London on June 19, 2016.
" src=https://ift.tt/9WEdViN class=caas-img>Sheen shoots a smile at a charity softball game at Pepperdine University in Malibu on Jan. 13, 2019.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/2W6sVPt class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Sheen shoots a smile at a charity softball game at Pepperdine University in Malibu on Jan. 13, 2019.
">Sheen shoots a smile at a charity softball game at Pepperdine University in Malibu on Jan. 13, 2019.
" src=https://ift.tt/2W6sVPt class=caas-img>Sheen attends the charity softball game to benefit California Strong.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/F6QUftv class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Sheen attends the charity softball game to benefit California Strong.
">Sheen attends the charity softball game to benefit California Strong.
" src=https://ift.tt/F6QUftv class=caas-img>Charlie Sheen (left) and Sebastian Maniscalco share a scene in "Bookie," a new Max series that premiered in November 2023. It's the first collaboration in years between Sheen and TV veteran Chuck Lorre, who famously directly Sheen in "Two and a Half Men."
" data-src=https://ift.tt/ZmsGWAH class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Charlie Sheen (left) and Sebastian Maniscalco share a scene in "Bookie," a new Max series that premiered in November 2023. It's the first collaboration in years between Sheen and TV veteran Chuck Lorre, who famously directly Sheen in "Two and a Half Men."
">Charlie Sheen (left) and Sebastian Maniscalco share a scene in "Bookie," a new Max series that premiered in November 2023. It's the first collaboration in years between Sheen and TV veteran Chuck Lorre, who famously directly Sheen in "Two and a Half Men."
" src=https://ift.tt/ZmsGWAH class=caas-img>Sheen attends the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association's Beastly Ball on June 3, 2023.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/gGmvrxf class=caas-img data-headline="See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more" data-caption="
Sheen attends the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association's Beastly Ball on June 3, 2023.
">Sheen attends the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association's Beastly Ball on June 3, 2023.
" src=https://ift.tt/gGmvrxf class=caas-img>
1 / 9See Charlie Sheen's life and career in 'Two and a Half Men' and more
"Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen is back in the spotlight with new documentary "aka Charlie Sheen." We've rounded up photos of the star through the years to mark the occasion.
'Failing my children' helped Charlie Sheen get sober
Sheen couldn't shield his substance abuse while on set. He experienced "a thirty-two-hour cocaine nosebleed" on the set of "Money Talks" (1997). At home, he overdosed while injecting cocaine. His famous friends pleaded for him to get help. Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash told Sheen, "I have never seen someone who needs to be in rehab more than you do." It was a 2017 car ride with his daughter Sami that inspired him to get sober for real. Sheen had been drinking so he had to ask a friend to drive him and Sami to her appointment.
"There was only one thing that felt worse than betraying myself, and that was failing my children," Sheen writes. "In that car, on that day, with my best friend and a child I adore, I joined Sam in those mirrors and saw a guy who was desperate to finally come home for real." The next day, Dec. 11, Sheen ingested "two Valium and drank three beers." Dec. 12, he "quit drinking for good," on Cassandra's birthday. Sheen says the nearly eight years since have centered on family.
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Charlie Sheen calls his HIV diagnosis 'shocking and depressing'
Before his 2011 diagnosis, Sheen experienced "nonstop clusters" of headaches and "delirious night sweats that redefined 'waterbed.'" He suspected a grave terminal illness, perhaps "brain cancer, spinal meningitis, a dying liver." The revelation of HIV rendered him speechless.
"As shocking and depressing as my new status was," Sheen writes, he experienced "relief. The relief of knowing an entire discipline of high-tech medicine was at my disposal to drive that bastard into submission."
Days after he and a friend ventured to Sunset Boulevard for a cheeseburger and a cigarette, which "brought the first rays of normal, and with that, some actual hope. The sun felt brighter as I caught my reflection in the car window next to me, and that's when I saw myself finally smile."
Sheen says he thinks about his illness "once a day for 20 seconds because I have to, that's the time it takes to eat the poison that tames the evil stowaway."
Charlie Sheen at Project Angel Food's Angel Awards on Aug. 18, 2018 in Hollywood.Charlie Sheen says testosterone cream, not drugs, led to infamous 'winning' interview on '20/20'
During his March 2011 sit-down with Andrea Canning for ABC News' "20/20," Sheen passed a drug test, though he zipped around like a house fly being chased. Sheen writes that his erratic behavior was caused by "testosterone cream that I was slathering on in mind-altering gobs." He'd been using it to "get my body back into shape, not knowing that at the same time, I was being shape-shifted. That drug is known to metabolize into the identical psych profile an anabolic steroid will produce … Not making excuses or asking for a pass, just putting it out there as a detail that may have been confused with a laundry list of other potential suspects."
Sheen credits his colorful language during the interview to former Major League pitcher Brian Wilson. "Thirty seconds into the call," Sheen writes, "BW was explaining how guys like us were different in that we have 'tiger blood' running through our veins − veins held together with 'Adonis DNA,' a substrate so unique it was never programmed to 'lose' because 'guys like us' are always "_." (I don't need to write that seven-letter word. You can already hear me saying it, with that specific inflection and rhythm from atop Mount Bedlam.) ... I was so jacked on the Krazy Kreem, those phrases went into my brain and stayed on a loop just below the surface."
Why Charlie Sheen was fired from his 'Two and a Half Men'
Season 8 of CBS' comedy wrapped unexpectedly in February 2011. The previous November, Sheen had filed for divorce from his third wife, Mueller, and says their split, "left me numb, both in spirit and from the amount of booze and dope I showered my brain with to quell the debilitating frustrations. It was the flashpoint that left me unable to show up and execute my job with any focused consistency, and as a result 'Two and a Half' came to a screeching halt with eight episodes still on the production schedule."
Charlie Sheen, far left, celebrates Chuck Lorre's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 12, 2009 with Conchata Ferrell, Lorre, Marin Hinkle, Holland Taylor and Jon Cryer.
Sheen writes he declined an offer from Les Moonves, then CBS' chairman and CEO, to use Warner's private jet to fly to rehab. Series cocreator Chuck Lorre, whom Sheen blasted as a "contaminated little maggot," replaced Sheen with Ashton Kutcher. Lorre and Sheen have since made amends.
Heidi Fleiss' women felt 'like a hundred Christmas mornings' to Charlie Sheen
Sheen says he first spotted Heidi Fleiss with a group of beautiful women in June 1992, at a club on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip. In a subsequent phone call with the madam, Sheen agreed to "twelve grand for two women from midnight 'til whenever."
Whenever Fleiss' sex workers arrived, Sheen says it felt "like a hundred Christmas mornings all at once in my favorite age from childhood. It was the mystery of the unknown, wrapped in the giddy mischief of secrets that had to be kept in the shadows."
Heidi Fleiss, the reputed "Hollywood Madam to the Stars," who was convicted on pandering charges in late 1994, appears in court in 1995 for a hearing to request a retrial.
Sheen's patronage of Fleiss' services came to an abrupt halt with her June 1993 arrest. Sheen, who'd written checks in his dealings with her, "cut a deal for immunity" and recorded his testimony outside of the trial, but in front of Fleiss. She stared at Sheen "with a look of betrayal and sadness," he remembers. Fleiss served 20 months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California before being released in 1998. According to Sheen, he and Fleiss have not spoken, but she appears in his Netflix documentary.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) any time of day or night.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Charlie Sheen memoir reveals drugs, sex workers, divorces and sobriety
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