Charlie Sheen on Admitting to Male Relationships and Clint Eastwood’s Rehab Message

In a series filled to the brim with colourful anecdotes and frank admissions, it is perhaps one lurid revelation that stands more than any other. 

Addressing filmmakers towards the end of aka Charlie Sheen, the two-part documentary currently taking Netflix by storm, its principal subject confirms lingering rumours that he has slept with men. 

And Sheen, 60, admits the cards-on-the-table nature of his confessional docuseries – the actor covers every controversial aspect of his life and career – demanded he be honest when asked if rumours of same-sex encounters were true.  

He told The Times: ‘I’m like, “Fine, let’s talk about it.’ It seemed like the right time.” 

‘I’ve experienced what it’s like to keep that stuff hidden, and always worry about the next phone call, the next knock on the door. But I didn’t have any experience with, “What if it was out there?”

Now clean and sober after well documented struggles with alcohol and substance abuse issues – notably a monstrous predilection for crack cocaine – Sheen admits his confirmation puts him in the same esteemed company as numerous other stars.   

‘It gave me something else in common with Richard Pryor and Marlon Brando,’ he said. ‘That’s pretty good company, right?’ 

Once surrounded by a coterie of women, thrice married Sheen is now happily single – and insists he’s in no hurry to enter another relationship.

‘I haven’t dated for a long time,’ he said. ‘I spent so much time and energy pursuing that for so long. It’s a pleasant break. I’m alone, but not lonely.’ 

The son of Hollywood royalty, the actor emerged from his father Martin Sheen’s tall shadow to successfully carve out his own career – starting with the John Milius directed 1984 drama Red Dawn. 

But it would be a fleeting cameo as spaced out juvenile delinquent Garth Volbeck in John Hughes’ cult ’80s comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that caught the eye of Hollywood producers, and would ultimately lead to the biggest role of his career. 

Indeed, a starring role in 1984 blockbuster Platoon – Oliver Stone’s harrowing account of the Vietnam war – would follow, with his portrayal of fictional infantryman Private Chris Taylor turning him into one of America’s brightest young stars. 

But it would be his collaboration with Clint Eastwood on 1990 crime drama The Rookie that would inadvertantly lead to temporary salvation as his use of drugs and alcohol spiralled out of control. 

Recalling his close relationship with the screen veteran in his new autobiography The Book Of Sheen: A Memoir, the actor recalls being tricked into an unlikely intervention spearheaded by his parents and attended by an assortment of friends, among them the now disgraced yoga pioneer, Bikram Choudhury.   

And Eastwood would also take part, albeit via a sobering phone call to the actor.   

‘Regardless of the circumstances, when Captain Willard hands you a receiver with Dirty Harry on the other end, the impossible kool-factor of that is not lost on you,’ Sheen recalled. 

‘Clint’s known to be a man of few words. He stayed true to his style, getting right to it by telling me, “You got this. Just a minor speed bump. Go make me proud.”’ 

He added: ‘As tempting as it is to change those words on the call to “go make my day”, I’m gonna stick to the original script. 

‘I thanked him and returned to the living room to announce my decision. Really hard to say no to Dirty Harry.

‘Tears, hugs, high-fives, and we were on the move. In the 38-minute drive to Saint John’s hospital in Santa Monica, I spent 37 of them masterminding a way to do rehab and the bikini contest on the same day.’