Charlie Sheen is laying it all out there. The actor is opening up about his past like never before in his upcoming memoir The Book of Sheen (Sept. 9) and the Netflix documentary Charlie Sheen (Sept. 10), including candid reflections on sexual experiences with men.
“I flipped the menu over,” Sheen admits in both the book and doc, describing how he explored relationships beyond women. “I’m not going to run from my past, or let it own me,” he tells People. Speaking to the documentary’s interviewer, Sheen called the process “liberating,” adding, “It’s f—ing liberating… No train came through the side of the restaurant, no piano fell from the sky. I’m safe to talk about it.”
Sheen revealed that these experiences began during a period of crack use. “That’s what started it,” he said. “Some of it was weird. A lot of it was f—ing fun, and life goes on.” During this time, he contracted HIV, which he initially tried to keep private. Some overnight guests allegedly photographed his medication and demanded money to stay silent, a tactic Sheen says he initially complied with. He publicly disclosed his HIV-positive status on Today in 2015, emphasizing, “I do know for a fact that I never passed it on.”
With both projects, Sheen says he wanted to tell the full truth without holding back. “The stories I can remember anyway,” he jokes, adding that while he’s spent years making amends for the fallout of his addiction, he’s not positioning himself as a victim. He does express regret over a post-20/20 speaking tour, saying, “That tour didn’t have to happen… Somebody should have tapped out for me and said, ‘This is a bad idea.’”
Today, Sheen lives a quieter, more measured life. After two tumultuous divorces—first with Denise Richards and then Brooke Mueller—he says his romantic life has been low-key, with time spent raising his children. “It wasn’t even by choice,” he explains. “The girls moved in with their mom, the boys moved in, and there wasn’t enough room. I had to be alone, but not lonely.”
Still, he remains open to the possibility of love. “Probably not marriage, though!” he adds, leaving the door open for a new chapter in both life and love.
