Charlie Sheen is finally coming to terms with his infamous 2011 meltdown.
Of course, fans of pop culture will never forget how the Two and a Half Men actor began his bizarre public downward spiral 10 years ago, eventually to be fired from the sitcom while giving bizarre interviews and popularizing terms like “hashtag winning” and “tiger blood.”
But now that Sheen is 55 years old and has a decade’s worth of perspective to look back on, the inevitable question pops up: was it all worth it?
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The answer seems to be no. It was not worth it, at all!
Sheen said as much in an interesting new interview with Yahoo! Celebrity, in which the Major League alum opened up quite a bit about that bizarre time. And straight off the top, it’s clear he has regrets about the consequences of his infamous actions back then.
Reflecting on it all, he offered:
“People have [said to] me, ‘Hey, man, that was so cool, that was so fun to watch. That was so cool to be a part of and support and all that energy and, you know, we stuck it to the man.’ My thought behind that is, ‘Oh, yeah, great. I’m so glad that I traded early retirement for a f**king hashtag.'”
Wow!
And his regrets are clear, and specific:
“There’s a moment when [former CBS CEO] Les Moonves and his top lawyer, Bruce, were at my house and they said, ‘OK, the Warner jet is fueled up on the runway. Wheels up in an hour and going to rehab, right?’ My first thought was sort of like really … In that moment, when I said, ‘Oh, damn, I finally get the Warner jet.’ That’s all I heard. But if I could go back in time to that moment, I would’ve gotten on the jet. And it was that giant left turn in that moment that led to, you know, a very unfortunate sequence of public and insane events. … There was 55 different ways for me to handle that situation, and I chose number 56. And so, you know, I think the growth for me post-meltdown or melt forward or melt somewhere — however you want to label it — it has to start with absolute ownership of my role in all of it. And it was desperately juvenile.”
No kidding!
And the Hot Shots actor wasn’t stopping there, either.
Not surprisingly, he believes drugs were at the root cause of those problems in his life and career:
“I think it was drugs or the residual effects of drugs. And it was also an ocean of stress and a volcano of disdain. It was all self-generated, you know. All I had to do was take a step back and say, ‘OK, let’s make a list. Let’s list, like, everything that’s cool in my life that’s going on right now. Let’s make a list of what’s not cool.’ You know what I’m saying? And the cool list was really full. The not cool list was, like, two things that could’ve been easily dismissed. I was getting loaded and my brain wasn’t working right.”
Not surprising there! Still sad, though… addiction is a disease no matter how much people may try to downplay it!
To that end, Sheen has thought a lot about empathy and mockery, and how his very public problems only ever seemed to engender one kind of response.
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He explained his sadness at being without empathy from the world as his meltdown completely took over.
Sheen said:
“I was really a guy that needed someone to reach out to and say, ‘Hey, man, obviously there’s a ton of other s**t going on. How can we help?’ And instead they showed up in droves with banners and songs, all types of fanfare and celebration of, you know, what I think was a very public display of a mental health moment. I had four children and went through two divorces in and around trying to navigate the landscape of being on the most popular show in the known universe, so it was a lot. And sometimes you pick a target, you need a scapegoat, you need someone to put it all on. You know? It can’t be me, it’s gotta be him or them or those folks. And that’s just not the road best traveled.”
Amen!
For now, Charlie is intent on moving forward — to wherever this next act of his life may take him!
The actor sounded admirably optimistic about it, all things considered:
“It’s all right if it still means something to them and, you know, I was the delivery device for [the fans and followers], then that’s fine. I just, I have absolute faith that the things I’m going to do professionally in Act 3 are going to put a muzzle on all that stuff and people can celebrate me again for what I actually do for a living.”
Wouldn’t that be something to see!
What do U make of Charlie’s reaction, 10 years later, to his infamous public crisis, Perezcious readers? Sure seems like he’s got a better head on his shoulders now, doesn’t it? Here’s hoping he make that third act as memorable as he wants it to be!
BTW, for more from Sheen and Yahoo!, you can read the full interview HERE.
Reactions? Sound OFF down in the comments (below)!
[Image via WENN/Instar]
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