Charlie Sheen Opens Up About Past “Liberating” Sexual Encounters with Men

Maybe it’s that he’s getting older and wiser (or he’s got some promotional work to do?), but Charlie Sheen has been in an earnest, sharing mood as of late. In addition to a forthcoming Netflix documentary, and his corresponding memoir, the Two and a Half Men star recently had heaps to say in an interview with PEOPLE (via Entertainment Weekly).

Perhaps the most striking revelation in the piece is Sheen’s acknowledgment of his relationships and sexual encounters with men. The lead-up to the documentary marks the first time he has even broached the subject, describing the process of opening up as “fucking liberating.” He added, “A fucking piano didn’t fall out of the sky. No one ran into the room and shot me.”

Sheen said these same-sex relations began while he was still regularly using drugs, including crack cocaine. (Sheen has been sober since mid-2017.) He explained that these encounters, paired with his ongoing struggles to remain sober, generated a lot of internal tension and existential pondering.

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“That’s where it was born, or sparked,” Sheen said. “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?’ Some of it was weird. A lot of it was fucking fun, and life goes on.”

There were other, equally insightful tidbits revealed, including:

His HIV status: Sheen first revealed his positive status during a November 2015 appearance on the Today show. As to what caused him to make the announcement, Sheen said that in years prior, house guests or sexual partners would snap pictures of his medications as a form of blackmail. Despite his drug use and other concerns, however, Sheen went on to say, “I do know for a fact that I never passed it [HIV] on.”

The 2011 tour: In the lead-up to his 20-city “My Violent Torpedo of Truth / Defeat Is Not an Option” live show, Sheen made the now-infamous comments about having “tiger blood.” However, Sheen told PEOPLE that the tour “didn’t have to happen,” adding that “Somebody should have tapped out for me and said, ‘This is a bad idea.’” He added, “I’ve never found ‘exploitation’ as a good treatment protocol.”

His friendship with Jon Cryer: In spring 2011, Sheen’s personal issues caused him to be written off Two and a Half Men. The fallout severed Sheen’s relationship with friend/co-star Cryer, and Sheen believes that his actions even put Cryer “in the line of fire” (via Us Magazine). Cryer does appear in the doc, but was recruited for the production by the director and not Sheen himself, who says he has no way of directly contacting his former friend. “I wrote to him and I said, ‘Hey, thank you for your contributions, and I’m sorry we didn’t connect personally,’” Sheen said of a message sent to Cryer, later adding, “So if you’re reading this, Jon, DM me your new number!”

His working/personal relationship with Chuck Lorre: Unlike Cryer, Sheen has since reunited with Two and a Half Men co-creator Chuck Lorre. The mend took place in time for Sheen to appear on Lorre’s 2023 comedy series Bookie. At the time, Lorre told Variety, “I was nervous, but almost as soon as we started talking, I remembered, we were friends once,” adding, “When he came to the table read of that episode, I walked up, and we hugged. It was just great.”

The Netflix documentary, aka Charlie Sheen (due out September 10th), gives additional perspective into Sheen’s tumultuous life through the lens of candid interviews with friends/family. That includes Denise Richards, Heidi Fleiss, Sean Penn, Ramon Estevez, Brooke Mueller, Chris Tucker, and even his drug dealer, Marco.

Meanwhile, his memoir, The Book of Sheen (out September 9th), was written entirely by the actor and covers his childhood as the son of a Hollywood star (Martin Sheen), his early rise to fame, and his stint on Two and a Half Men “coping with the chaos of divorces and drugs.”

Check out both the trailer and book cover below.