Charlie Sheen uses his new memoir to level sharp criticisms at his former wives and to recount decades of substance abuse, high-profile splits and parenting struggles.
In The Book of Sheen, published Friday, the 60-year-old actor writes that third wife Brooke Mueller was "more enamored with the idea of becoming a mom than actually being one," and says his marriage to her grew out of "loneliness and fear." He also criticizes his second wife, Denise Richards, saying her decision to file for divorce left him feeling "discarded" after what he describes as "unending conflicts."
Sheen recounts a range of personal episodes, from youthful indiscretions to later excesses. He says he lost his virginity to an escort in Las Vegas using his father Martin Sheen's credit card, and that the escort later asked him to wake his father to obtain an autograph. He writes of changing diapers while high on marijuana as a new father, notes extravagant purchases such as a $30,000 Panama hat, and describes a dependency on prescription opioids, saying he took a strong form of Vicodin called Norco that produced severe withdrawal without it.
The memoir revisits some of the most public episodes of Sheen's life and career. He recalls his 2011 media tour, during which he promoted the now-infamous claim about having "tiger blood" and engaged in erratic public behavior. Sheen writes that prolonged drug and alcohol misuse derailed his acting career, which had included films such as Wall Street and Platoon and the sitcom Two and a Half Men. The actor says he has been sober since 2017.
Sheen details family ruptures that followed his rise and decline. He married Richards in 2002; the couple had daughters Sam and Lola. Sheen says that as Two and a Half Men grew popular he became "less popular at home," and that disagreements, financial mismanagement and substance use contributed to the marriage's breakdown. He recounts being served divorce papers while learning lines for the sitcom, and says a judge ordered him to leave a home he had renovated and restricted his access to his daughters for about 18 months while the split was finalized.
Richards has spoken publicly about the toll the relationship took on their children, and Sheen references strained current relations. He writes that his relationship with Richards today is "solid," and calls his relationship with Mueller "sustainable."
Sheen says he met Mueller through the late actor Matthew Perry when both men were sober and that he believed she could help him set a different course. They married in 2009 and had twin sons, Bob and Max, that March. Less than two years later, Sheen filed for divorce. The twins were later removed from Mueller's custody amid concerns about her behavior and struggles with addiction; they were for a time placed in the care of Richards.
The Book of Sheen also touches on Sheen's HIV status. The actor, who has publicly disclosed that he is HIV-positive, links aspects of his health and personal life to the long period of substance use and promiscuity he describes in the memoir.
The memoir is being released as Sheen prepares to appear in a forthcoming Netflix documentary about his life, according to the book's promotion. In the book, he delivers both sharp reproaches and candid admissions about decisions he says damaged relationships and career opportunities.
Friends and former colleagues are woven into the narrative, including references to Perry's role in introducing Sheen to Mueller. Sheen chronicles how addiction and poor choices affected household dynamics, parenting and finances, and he offers moments of contrition alongside blunt assessments of his ex-spouses.
Legal and custody disputes over the years have left lingering effects on the family. Sheen writes that the period after the split with Richards was marked by a sense of being "discarded," and he describes the custody arrangements and court orders that followed. Denise Richards, on her reality series, has said the daughters have "been through a lot," and one of the daughters told the show she would "rather literally do anything else than go to lunch with my father," a remark Sheen addresses in the memoir.
The Book of Sheen adds to a long public record of the actor's struggles and recovery, combining personal anecdotes, frank admissions and contentious appraisals of relationships. The memoir will reach readers ahead of the Netflix documentary, offering Sheen's version of events and his reflections on sobriety, fatherhood and the personal costs of fame.