Charlie Sheen said sobriety and sudden responsibility as a father reshaped his life when he stopped drinking in 2017, remarks he made Monday at a New York event marking the imminent release of his memoir, The Book of Sheen.
Speaking with actor and writer David Duchovny at the 92nd Street Y, Sheen described how giving up alcohol led to a day-to-day focus on parenting and stability. "It turned into just an interesting daily grind of just sudden responsibility and, you know, having to answer the call and it was amazing," he said, adding that once he "finally put down the bottle," his children began coming to his home.
The Book of Sheen, set to be released Tuesday, traces the actor's life from a near-fatal incident at his birth in 1965 through decades in Hollywood, including breakout roles in Platoon and Wall Street, long-standing substance abuse, legal battles, an HIV diagnosis and multiple high-profile divorces. Sheen said writing the memoir required years of introspection and that he intentionally adopted an unconventional writing style in places, rendering words as he perceives them — turning "dude" into "dood," for example — to create a specific rhythm and sense of presence.
"I wanted it to feel like the reader was kind of in the room with me or at the small dinner party hearing this story," Sheen said, citing the narration and cadence of Apocalypse Now, the 1979 film that starred his father, Martin Sheen, as an inspiration.
Duchovny praised the memoir during the discussion, calling it "not vindictive at all" and noting Sheen's lack of animus toward others and toward himself. The actor said the book addresses his addictions candidly, devoting significant attention to the role substances played in his life and recovery.
Sheen spoke specifically about alcohol, saying it initially helped calm a childhood stutter that interfered with acting and later became the most difficult substance for him to manage. "The only part of the drinking that I could navigate was the first hour," he said. "But, it’s the next 500 hours or just the next 12 hours. So, once I can just abandon that fantasy of living inside that hour, then it is not a big deal."
He also discussed cocaine and other drugs, saying there was an "intense sexual component" tied to some of the substances he used. "When substance abuse is the first bridge you build, that's the one you'll keep walking across," he said.
Sheen described the act of writing as both the most challenging and the most rewarding work he has done. He said the solitude of working with a blank page allowed him to proceed without seeking approval. When asked whether he would return to acting, he said he struggled to answer and suggested he might write something he could later perform.
In addition to the memoir, a two-part Netflix documentary titled aka Charlie Sheen is scheduled for release Wednesday. Sheen said the film includes clips of early home movies he made as a child in Malibu with friends such as Chris and Sean Penn. He described those homemade films — often simple plots involving a crime or revenge filmed with old cameras and props handed down by his father and the Penns' parents — as a formative exercise that mirrored the creative work of their parents.
The memoir and the documentary together frame a public reckoning with Sheen's career and personal struggles. At the event, he emphasized accountability and recovery, saying, "I’m a good guy. Good guys sometimes do some bad things but the only way to stay a good guy is to own that (expletive) and move forward." Duchovny noted Sheen's gentleness in the book toward both others and himself.
The Book of Sheen arrives amid renewed public attention on the actor's life and career. The memoir's narrative arc, from crisis to sobriety, and the release of archival footage in the Netflix documentary provide new material for audiences and critics to assess a decades-long public and private trajectory that has included professional acclaim alongside personal turmoil.