The Real Reason Charlie Sheen No Longer Drinks Alcohol
The following article includes mentions of addiction.
Charlie Sheen may have gotten clean, but his bad-boy reputation has taken its toll. While famous for his film roles in the '80s and '90s and for hit shows like "Spin City" and "Two and a Half Men," Sheen is just as known for his disturbing history of erratic behavior. Much of it was tied to drug and alcohol addiction, a condition he had been dealing with as far back as 1990 when Sheen first checked himself into a 30-day rehab program.
But his struggles continued — and even worsened, with Sheen suffering a drug overdose that nearly cost him his life in 1998. "We are in the stages, right now, of recovery. It is my hope that he will accept recovery and become free," his father, actor Martin Sheen, said in a press conference. Despite rehab and a close encounter with death, Sheen continued to make headlines for his drug-fueled behavior, including his 2009 arrest for assault against his now ex-wife Brooke Mueller, resulting in a sentence that required him to spend a month in rehab, the Associated Press reported.
His addiction became even more exacerbated when he tested positive for HIV in 2011, a diagnosis he made public on the Today show in 2015. "I was so depressed by the condition I was in, I was doing too many drugs, I was drinking too much," he told Matt Lauer. It seemed his addiction was stronger than everything else in his life, but one situation proved that wrong.
Charlie Sheen quit alcohol after failing his daughter
After Charlie Sheen stepped away from the spotlight following his 2011 firing from "Two and a Half Men," he switched his focus toward his children. It was thanks to his role as a father that Sheen found the impetus to become sober. Up until 2017, Sheen drank alcohol in the mornings, a habit that started affecting his kids. "One morning I'd forgotten my daughter had an appointment I'd promised to drive her to, and I'd already had a couple of pops that day," he told People in December, referring to either Sami or Lola, the daughters he shares with Denise Richards.
Sheen had to figure out a way to work around it. "So [I] had to call my friend Tony to take us. We got her there on time, but it broke my heart," he revealed. Even if things worked out in the end, the episode stayed with him. That's when he decided he was done with alcohol for good. "The next morning I just stopped," he said.
Sheen has never looked back. The process was admittedly hard, but he found ways to keep the temptations of alcohol at bay. That included imposing a five-guest rule to any house gatherings, he told USA Today in 2018. Sheen managed to stay sober this time around because the circumstances of his attempt were different. "Every other time (I was sober) I was led there through an intervention or rehab or a detox," he said.
Charlie Sheen had already stopped doing drugs before
While Charlie Sheen didn't stop drinking until 2017, he had already quit drugs. His stints in rehab didn't help him stay clean for long, but his overdose did for quite some time. In a January 2004 interview with The Telegraph, Sheen revealed he had stopped taking drugs after the episode, suggesting he had been clean for more than five years up to that point. But it didn't stick. Between then and March 2005, Sheen relapsed and his addiction became a major factor in his divorce from Denise Richards.
In 2011, Sheen revealed he had quit all drugs except for one. "I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available because if you try it once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body," he said on ABC's "20/20" that February. However, he relapsed once again following his HIV diagnosis. "It was to suffocate the anxiety and what my life was going to become with this condition and getting so numb I didn't think about it," he said on The Dr. Oz Show in 2016.
It's unclear when exactly it happened, but Sheen quit drugs between then and 2017. Sheen's fight against addiction has been long and filled marked by ups and downs, but it has filled his loved ones with pride. "His recovery and his life is a miracle and he's an extraordinary man," Martin Sheen told People in 2021.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).