By Laura Moreno
Carlos Estévez (aka Charlie Sheen) is the highest paid actor in the history of television. Now he reveals it all in his new film “aka Charlie Sheen,” a two-part documentary totally 3 hours, directed by Andrew Renzi.
Sheen’s Triumph: Unfiltered and Unforgettable
The film is praised for Sheen’s openness in discussing the challenges of fame, addiction, relationships — yes, he once piloted an airplane drunk. Nothing is off limits.
“I’m not going to run from my past, or let it own me,” Sheen said.
“A guy like him has a lot to offer the world with that story,” says Renzi. “…who better to talk about these missteps?”
The film also covers Sheen’s upbringing in Malibu with Super 8 footage from home movies.
Charlie Sheen’s memoir “The Book of Sheen” was released this month as well. One of its many revelations is that what initially drove him to drink was his life-long struggle with stuttering, not the easiest problem for any actor to have.
A revelation that made his daughter Sami cry: finding out the actor went sober because of her. She had no idea, she said on TikTok. He was supposed to pick her up from a school event, but couldn’t because he had been drinking. Fortunately, a family friend was able to drive them both, but the experience made Charlie Sheen feel he was failing his children as a father. Right then and there he stopped taking drugs and has been completely sober for the last 8 years.
Honest & Liberating
Sheen describes his sexual experiences with men as a significant and liberating part of his life. It started while he was on drugs. “That’s what started it. That’s where it was born, or sparked. 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?’ So what? Some of it was weird. A lot of it was f—ing fun, and life goes on.”
Regarding finally being able to speak about it, Charlie Sheen, age 60, says, “Liberating. It’s f—ing liberating… [to]just talk about stuff. It’s like a train didn’t come through the side of the restaurant. A f—ing piano didn’t fall out of the sky. No one ran into the room and shot me.”
A Tribute to Martin Sheen
The film is dedicated to his father, three-time Emmy Award winning actor Martin Sheen, now 85 years old, who has also battled a drinking problem. Father and son each have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But their relationship hasn’t always been easy.
And yet, it’s reached a “beautiful place” now that Charlie Sheen has been sober 7 years, and if he had to put it into one word, that word would be “gratitude.”
As reported in the Daily Beast, Sheen said, “I think it is hard for sons to always share with their fathers what is truly in their hearts. I hope he sees some of this as the love letter to him that it is.”
To sidestep potential prejudice, Martin Sheen, born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez who is of Spanish and Irish descent, adopted his stage name in honor of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen of New York who hosted The Catholic Hour on NBC. He even considered becoming a priest as a young man and attended seminary for a time before choosing acting. Incidentally, the Venerable Archbishop Sheen won two Emmy Awards and is now in the process of being canonized a saint.
But Martin Sheen says if he had it to do over again, he would not change his name. The reason? He recalled how disappointed his father Francisco was that he had changed his name. Martin Sheen’s father (Charlie’s grandfather) immigrated from Galicia, Spain, worked a factory job most of his life, and had to raise 10 kids alone after his wife died. When he attended a Broadway play Martin Sheen starred in, he stared up at the marquee and shook his head in disappointed that the name “Estévez” was not up there in lights for all of New York City to see.
Charlie’s older brother Emilio Estévez kept the family name and found success as well as an actor, and then as a director and producer.
Spirituality & Winning
The film deals candidly with Charlie Sheen’s infamous very public meltdown in 2011 in which he created a viral meme by using the phrase “winning” while behaving erratically. This was shortly after the stress of getting diagnosed as HIV positive and losing his TV show.
Sheen provides context and insight into his mindset at the time, discussing the consequences of his actions, including arrests. The film reveals he believes the chaos in his life was influenced by “demons,” metaphorical representations of his addictions and emotional issues at the time.
Interestingly, his daughter, Lola Sheen, has also spoken about her experiences with spirituality, saying she prays for guidance in difficult times. She has shared that she felt God’s presence helped her find faith in Jesus, and like her father, sought redemption and understanding in the face of personal struggles.
“I’m not in any way religious. I don’t go to church, but I consider myself spiritual,” Charlie Sheen says. No doubt prayer is a part of his journey of self-discovery and healing. Considering all he’s been through, it’s clear someone up there is looking out for him.
The documentary “aka Charlie Sheen” is available on Netflix.