Charlie Sheen discussed his journey to sobriety and the writing process behind his new memoir, “The Book of Sheen,” during a conversation with actor and writer David Duchovny at 92nd Street Y in New York on Monday. The memoir is set for release Tuesday.
Sheen shared that becoming sober eight years ago shifted his focus toward fatherhood. “It turned into just an interesting daily grind of just sudden responsibility and, you know, having to answer the call and it was amazing,” Sheen said. He added that once he “finally put down the bottle,” his children began visiting him at home.
The actor has faced addiction throughout his career, which included roles in films such as “Platoon” and “Wall Street.” His struggles also involved legal issues, an HIV diagnosis, and public divorces. Writing candidly about these experiences required years of self-reflection, according to Sheen.
“I’m a good guy,” Sheen said. “Good guys sometimes do some bad things but the only way to stay a good guy is to own that (expletive) and move forward.”
Duchovny praised the tone of the memoir during their discussion. “Not vindictive at all. There’s no animus against any other person in the book, even yourself, which I really appreciate. Not just your gentleness with other people, but your gentleness with yourself,” Duchovny said.
“The Book of Sheen” covers Sheen’s life from a near-death experience at birth in 1965 through to his decision to get sober in 2017. The writing style features purposeful misspellings—such as spelling “dude” as “dood”—to reflect how words appear in Sheen’s mind. He cited inspiration from the narration style of “Apocalypse Now,” a film starring his father Martin Sheen.
“I wanted it to feel like the reader was kind of in the room with me or at the small dinner party hearing this story,” he explained.
Sheen addressed how drug addiction and recovery are central themes in both his life and book. He described an “intense sexual component” tied to many drugs he used—including cocaine—and noted that substance abuse often becomes habitual: when it is “the first bridge you build…that’s the one you’ll keep walking across.”
He also spoke about alcohol’s impact on him personally: it initially helped manage a stutter affecting his acting career but became increasingly difficult to control over time. “The only part of the drinking that I could navigate was the first hour,” Sheen said. “But, it’s the next 500 hours or just the next 12 hours. So, once I can just abandon that fantasy of living inside that hour, then it is not a big deal.”
On future acting prospects, Sheen was uncertain but described writing as highly rewarding: “Writing the book was the most challenging job I’ve ever had and hands down the most rewarding one.” He added: “It was incredible to have a job where I didn’t have to get approval … it’s just you and the page… Maybe I need to write the next thing I act in.”
Sheen’s early filmmaking experiences are featured in an upcoming two-part Netflix documentary titled “aka Charlie Sheen,” which will premiere Wednesday on Netflix . The documentary includes never-before-seen home movies made with childhood friends Chris and Sean Penn while growing up in Malibu, California.
According to Sheen, these early films typically revolved around simple crime stories using props from their parents—who were also actors or directors—and were shot on old cameras passed down by family members.
“Everybody was surfing or skateboarding or doing other stuff and we just found a way to, just kind of emulate or mimic or copy what our parents were doing,” he said.
