Charlie Sheen says he had sexual encounters with men while he was using crack, the actor revealed in interviews promoting his upcoming memoir, The Book of Sheen, and his Netflix docuseries, aka Charlie Sheen.
Sheen, 60, told People that the encounters happened during periods when he was using the drug and that he has chosen to address them openly in both the book and the television series. "I flipped the menu over," he said, describing the decision to chronicle those episodes. "I'm not going to run from my past, or let it own me."
In the People interview, Sheen said his same-sex encounters were tied to his crack use. "That's what started it," he said. "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?' So what? Some of it was weird. A lot of it was f**king fun. And life goes on.'"
The disclosures come as Sheen promotes both the memoir and the Netflix series, which premiered in Los Angeles on Thursday. Ex-wife Denise Richards attended the premiere in support of Sheen, according to reports and photographs from the event.
Sheen first rose to prominence in the 1980s with films such as Wall Street and later became a household name for his role on the sitcom Two and a Half Men. His career has long been accompanied by highly publicized struggles with substance abuse and legal and personal controversies. In recent years he has been candid about his past, and his latest projects aim to present his own account of those experiences.
The Book of Sheen and aka Charlie Sheen both aim to chronicle decades of Sheen's life and career, including his battles with addiction and the decisions he said were taken while under the influence. In discussing those chapters of his life, Sheen emphasized a desire not to be defined exclusively by them, saying he preferred to own his narrative rather than allow it to "own" him.
The actor's revelations about his sexual encounters while using crack add new detail to a personal history that has been the subject of public scrutiny for years. Sheen has not said whether the accounts in his memoir and docuseries represent a comprehensive accounting of his past or selected episodes he chose to highlight. Representatives for Sheen did not provide additional comment beyond the interviews and promotion surrounding the new projects.
Both the memoir and the Netflix series are scheduled to be released as part of Sheen's broader effort to recount his life on his own terms. As he promotes those releases, Sheen spoke of moving forward while acknowledging the complexity of his past choices and experiences.