Charlie Sheen writes in his new memoir that Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, tried to hit on Sheen’s girlfriend during a 1987 visit connected to the filming of Three for the Road.
In The Book of Sheen, the actor recounts that Clinton welcomed the movie’s cast to the governor’s mansion for a photo opportunity and gave Sheen a pair of Razorback shoes. Sheen wrote that while he was answering a reporter’s question, co-star Alan Ruck overheard Clinton tell an aide, “Find out what you can about the brunette,” a line Sheen says Ruck still “swears it was an exact quote.” Sheen identified the woman as Dolly Fox, who accompanied him to the event.
Sheen framed the anecdote in the memoir as evidence, in his words, that the behavior later tied to Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was “in play” years earlier. He said he felt sympathy for Fox at the time but also a measure of pride that the then-governor appeared to take an interest. Sheen wrote that Ruck relayed the episode to Fox later that night in a bar, and that Fox laughed and was “actually flattered.”
According to Sheen’s account, he first told the story publicly in 1999 while in rehab during the period of Clinton’s impeachment proceedings; he said fellow patients did not believe him at the time. The actor also quotes a remark he made then: “It’s kool, I’ll put it in a book one day and you can all go f–k yourselves,” a line he says explains why the episode appears in his memoir.
The New York Post reported the memoir excerpt and said it reached out to Clinton’s representative for comment. A spokesperson for Clinton did not provide a response to the Post within the story’s reporting. Clinton has acknowledged a past affair with Monica Lewinsky; his relationship with Lewinsky and subsequent impeachment in 1999 remain part of the public record.
Sheen’s memoir was released to coincide with a two-part Netflix documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, in which he discusses his upbringing, rise in Hollywood and struggles with addiction. The documentary features interviews with Sheen’s ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller, fellow actors including Jon Cryer and Sean Penn, and others who have known him professionally and personally. Sheen told interviewer David Duchovny that he intended the book to convey the sense of being “in the room” with him and called the writing process both the most challenging and the most rewarding job he had undertaken.
Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 until he was elected president in 1992. The episode Sheen describes, if accurate, would have occurred during Clinton’s second tenure as governor. The memoir’s claim adds a new anecdote to long-standing public scrutiny of Clinton’s conduct during and before his presidency, but the allegation as described in the book is presented solely from Sheen’s recollection and has not been independently corroborated in reporting accompanying the memoir.
The Book of Sheen and the Netflix documentary are the latest entries in the actor’s efforts to recount his life and career on his own terms. The memoir includes other anecdotes about Sheen’s early life, career milestones and battles with addiction, and the promotional rollout has included television interviews and public appearances in which he has discussed passages from the book.