Charlie Sheen says he shoved an ice cube up his butt while filming the 1992 film Free Money at the peak of his drug addiction, a moment he described in his new Netflix docuseries "aka Charlie Sheen." The 60-year-old actor said the stunt was a desperate attempt to stay awake during a bar scene as his substance use intensified.
"I went in there, and I took an ice cube, and I shoved it up my butt," Sheen recalled in the series, adding that the shock of cold snapped him back "just enough to get back on the mark and finish the bucket scene." He also told viewers he experienced an 18-hour nosebleed while shooting another project amid heavy cocaine use.
Sheen said he persuaded director Brett Ratner to remove the shot from the film, and acknowledged that taking roles during that period was driven in part by a need to fund his habits. The revelations are among several personal episodes and admissions the actor recounts in the series and in his memoir, "Book of Sheen."
The series traces a long history of substance abuse and interventions. Sheen said his first intervention occurred in August 1990, when a group that included Rob Lowe, a former seventh-grade teacher and others—plus a phone call from Clint Eastwood—went to send him to rehab. After relapsing, Sheen said he overdosed and was turned over to police by his father, Martin Sheen, an act the younger actor described at the time as "the biggest betrayal." He later relapsed again and developed a prescription pill addiction while working on the sitcom Two and a Half Men.
Denise Richards, Sheen's ex-wife, appears in the documentary and describes the marriage's breakdown and Sheen's behavior during that period. Richards said in the series that Sheen became "very aggressive" before their divorce. In footage from the docuseries she is seen emotionally recounting the toll the relationship took on their family; she apologized for her emotional response but said she wanted cameras to capture the truth of what happened.
Sheen said the priorities in his life were "wonky" during his years of heavy use, and he acknowledged repeatedly trying to get clean through rehab before relapsing. He has said he has been sober since 2017.
Both Sheen and Richards attended the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary last week, where they posed together and embraced on the red carpet, marking one of their first public appearances together in two decades. "aka Charlie Sheen" is available to stream on Netflix.
The series and Sheen's memoir add to a long public record of the actor's struggles and recovery efforts, documenting episodes from the early 1990s through his television success and subsequent setbacks. The account joins other Hollywood memoirs and documentaries that chronicle addiction, interventions and the complexities of seeking treatment while maintaining a high-profile career.
