Charlie Sheen on Getting Sober, the Highs and Lows of Fame, and Mending Relationships With Family | Ep. 1148

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Welcome to the Megan Kelly Show, live on SiriusXM Channel 111 every weekday at Noon East.

Hey, everyone, I'm Megan Kelly.

Welcome to The Megan Kelly Show.

We have an amazing show for you here.

We've got Charlie Sheen, and we couldn't wait to talk to Charlie Sheen, and we taped a conversation with Charlie Sheen on Tuesday of this week.

And he was amazing, like completely honest and full of candor and self-deprecating and very reflective about the incredible life he's had.

And we had always planned with his team, they're doing a press rollout around his book and his documentary on Netflix, to air it on Friday.

Well, as you know, something massive happened in the country between Tuesday and Friday involving another Charlie.

And

we asked ourselves what to do about the Charlie Sheen interview.

And in the end, we've decided to put it out because I think we need it.

I think it's good.

We can't spend every moment in darkness and thinking about the awfulness that happened on Thursday.

We can't.

I'm losing track of my days on Wednesday.

We can't, we shouldn't.

We should take a moment to watch a silly comedy or listen to a podcast about decorating.

I don't take your pick, sports.

We have to continue on with our lives somewhat normally.

And so we are going to air this.

We also have an hour-long program that we're airing in tribute to Charlie Kirk.

But I think you'll enjoy this hour with Charlie Sheen.

I really did.

I did not expect to like him as much as I did.

And I just adore the guy now.

And I think you will too.

So enjoy.

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And the best part, you won't have to buy gas at all.

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Charlie Sheen is an American actor and an icon.

His life has been a wild ride, born to father actor Martin Sheen.

What do you care if your brother ditches school?

He achieved success seemingly overnight and went on to star in films like Platoon, Wall Street, and The Rookie.

You want to do over?

No, I don't want to do over.

He eventually became the highest paid actor in television history as a star on the beloved sitcom Two and a Half Men.

I am on a drug.

It's called Charlie Sheen.

But all of that success came with challenges, addiction, and tumultuous relationships.

Now Charlie Sheen is eight years sober and back to tell his story his own way.

His new memoir, The Book of Sheen, tells all.

And we do mean all.

And a new Netflix documentary released at the same time, aka Charlie Sheen, hits this week too.

I lit the fuse, you know, and my life turns into everything

it wasn't supposed to be.

I've read the book, I've watched the documentary, and I could not recommend both more than I do.

Charlie, welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Thank you, man.

It's an honor to be here.

Thank you.

I can't believe believe you didn't use a ghostwriter on this.

Thank you for the lovely intro, firstly.

You bet.

No,

there was talk of that early on, and I just thought that

that wouldn't give me an opportunity to

deliver it

from

the deepest reaches of myself, you know.

And I knew that

to the reader that it would feel counterfeit, you know.

No, you can tell it's you i mean your voice all right resonates right on comes right off the page and then if you read it while you're watching the documentary it just validates that it's 100 you it's all you i feel like i know you so well now having read this and watched this and here's where i want to kick it off um okay

it seems like you know the addiction i i said to myself who is charlie sheen like what do i think of when i think of charlie sheen yes icon huge star addict of course is one of the words but truly also a genius.

And those things are not unusually paired.

It's not unusual to see those things together.

But it seems like there was a feeling of inadequacy in, let's say, Carlos Esteves versus Charlie Sheen, the icon movie star that we know now.

And my question in watching the film and reading the book was, where did that come from?

And I'll just give you my own pitch on it.

You tell me whether I have anything like the truth here.

You had a very famous father.

You then had a very famous brother, both of whom went before you and became famous in your brother's case or were famous in your dad's, when you were, you know, not.

You were just a regular kid.

And I think it probably had a profound effect on you being around that level of wealth and attention directed at people around you, but not at you, that maybe

planted some seeds that weren't potentially healthy for you in the long haul.

What do you make of my theory?

I think your theory

is more than just a theory.

I think you've tapped into

some very solid truths about

what motivated me or at least

what drove me like it did, because

for so long I was I was Martin Sheen's son.

And then

you add to that

and Emilio, that was his brother.

And it just,

it got to the point where,

and then, you know, growing up on dad's sets and then going out with Emilio

and

his crew of newly faminted actors that he was making all his movies with and just seeing the type of energy and the type of access and the type of the type of fun and

mischief that they all had such

limitless access to that I just,

I wanted a taste of it so badly.

And

it felt so close, yet at the same time,

it was light years out of reach, you know.

Yeah, because just because you have fame in the family doesn't mean it's going to happen for you.

And so even trying for it was pretty bold on your part.

But your story is not one of somebody who knew he had to be an actor.

You had the thespian gene.

You were going to see it through.

It was kind of like just happened.

And then it happened really quickly.

Yeah, no,

I got a little bit of a warm-up.

I'd done a couple of films

that nobody really cared about.

I was just trying to get a SAG card, just trying to be a consistently employed actor

and just kind of go from one job to the next and hopefully leave some good work behind.

And

then just, you know, i what when when when i guess stuff happens when it's supposed to or or at times how it's supposed to and

you know this this this cameo just just falls out of the sky into into my lap and and uh that was the film uh ferris bueller's day off what do you care if your brother ditches school

why should he get to ditch when everybody else has to go

You could ditch.

Gosh, I'm only on film, like probably less than three minutes.

And even having done a couple of lead roles in forgettable films before that, and then that thing hits.

And it's that thing I talk about in the book where the day before in the grocery store, the girls thought I worked there, you know, and then Bueller hits and I'm no longer wearing that imaginary Vons vest, you know.

Well, and I love the story behind that.

So Jennifer Gray did you a solid.

She got you the audition.

Yeah.

And

you nonetheless showed up late.

You tried to stay up all night so you could look weathered and tired like your character and got a little too method, overslept the alarm, show up an hour and a half late.

Jennifer Gray's like, what the hell, man?

But it was a very interesting story you tell.

You're very insightful about how John Hughes, you saw him and you expected he was just going to throw you out of there, and you got something different.

I thought he would continue the drubbing that

she had initiated.

but with him it it it it came to a flintstones halt and um and he just like i i say in the doc and in and and the book when he just took one look at me and he literally just said oh good you're here let's get started and and just

what that did for just calming my nerves and and and my confidence and and just knowing that I was, you know, in the presence of a man that didn't care about anything that led up to the the to the you know the moment that he needed to

to you know get his director brain around you know um so and then it's it's it's pretty cool in the movie you can still see jennifer you can still see the the the trailing effects of some of the yes some of some of her ire and the animosity and just definitely yes no she was great in that scene too and you stole the scene and you could argue you stole the movie and i i thought about that with john hughes and I thought, okay,

I understand why he did it because you walk in, you're very good looking, you are like oozing the right attitude for this guy, right?

He's like, this is my guy.

This is, I need him in this scene.

And I think like that would come back to help you many times, your movie star appeal, your good looks, your charm.

And, but it wasn't always a force for good, for good.

Like this, these things that would get you a pass from people like John Hughes that happened to you repeatedly in your life sound good on paper, but like maybe weren't because gave you a feeling of invincibility, like you could get away with anything.

And maybe that wasn't such a great thing for the other piece of Charlie Sheen, which is the addict piece.

Yeah, no, it certainly was not a great thing.

I mean, it's nice to be forgiven.

Obviously, it's nice to be given second chances and all that good stuff.

But,

and we touch on this in the doc a little bit.

What was interesting that even after

not the biggest

disasters

or

the furthest falls, but

there was a pattern of

fucking things up, sending shit off the rails,

and then having a job literally on the other side of that event once I had, you know, once I dusted myself off and and and

you know

got got back ready to work so yeah so but you know I think there's two sides to that that that it that that didn't mean I had to take those jobs but but it but it also didn't mean that that they always had to be there Does that make any sense?

I kind of went completely around that.

I get it.

But I just think opportunity kept coming your way because you really do have true genius in this field.

You can see it in the parts you play.

You embody these characters.

It seems to come easy to you, like to us lay people, it certainly does.

And yet,

the universal rewards for those talents may not be a good thing.

Like, this kind of dawned on me while I was reading the book.

Being universally rewarded for these preternatural gifts, whether it's appearance or abilities, could in some ways be a devil on your back because

a life without consequences can lead to some bad choices and a false feeling of invincibility.

Of course it can.

Of course it can.

Yeah.

And there's also

this thing about

not having to deal with

a ton of failure at first.

There's a little piece in the book where I mentioned that they teach us as kids, if at first you know you don't succeed, you try, try again.

If at first you do succeed, that's where that saying ends because it was never written.

It doesn't exist, you know?

And then it's like even talking about, you know, watching dad, you know, with his ascent to stardom and his brilliant career and then watching Emilio,

it's

you, you know, I thought that I would have a handle on what that might feel like once, you know, were I fortunate for it to happen to me as well, even on a smaller scale at, you know, just a fraction of what they'd achieved.

But there's no way to really prepare anyone for it.

There's no way to,

I guess in some way, it'd be like asking

Barry Bonds or Hank Aaron,

what it actually feels like to hit a home run.

They can describe the mechanics of it, but they can't really ever put you inside a moment

that you have to inhabit

to

truly own that experience.

And so

watching it and then living it was a whole different reality.

But then it's nice to have people you can check in with and say, hey, okay, so this happened with the thing, and then I saw how you dealt with that.

And then any recommendations, any ideas.

But even the advice sometimes

it's well-intentioned.

But that doesn't mean that

it's going to be

useful.

And I don't mean that dismissively, just that that you know giving people advice for things that they have to experience yeah um doesn't work is that is that is that making sense is that yeah we all learn that as parents we all learn that as parents you know you want to spare your kids all the pain and anguish you experienced by telling them the life lessons you learned and i mean i've concluded 15 years into motherhood it's not a complete waste of time but it's really close to a waste of time they have to make their own mistakes in order to really learn the lessons sure

It's pretty close to a waste of time.

That's brilliant.

Pretty close.

I can see, like, I'm sure Martin Sheen was like, Charlie, I'll walk you through exactly how to handle these massive challenges.

You know, he's a huge star, big movie star in his day,

apocalypse now.

And he's probably thinking, I can spare you so much grief.

And then you learn the hard way, oh, God, he's going to need to experience grief his own way.

And it's going to be really public, too, in your case.

But isn't it interesting?

In the book,

there's those early examples of that he was

the voice of advice that I would seek.

He was the guy that I would go to.

The thing that happened with the Karate Kid, the thing that happened with that early MGM deal.

And he was the guy I would go to.

And then, of course,

when it came to Platoon and he advised against that as well is when I finally finally told him I said I gotta I gotta just I gotta I gotta roll the dice on this one because you were offered the lead role in Karate Kid ultimately played by Ralph Macchio and you turned it down for some film with the word grizzly in it where you and a very young George Clooney and a young Laura Dern would make a movie no no one would ever remember whatsoever.

And your dad had told you you needed to say no to Karate Kid because you had committed to this other film.

Yeah.

yeah i mean it's not the worst advice in the world if you just break it down just into the into the credo that that he was you know into into just the the the noble essence of of what he was trying to get me to to

to to pursue you know or or or or to recognize you know um

so but yeah that was a hard one to watch and you know go get eaten by a bear and then watch ralph

you know,

deal with that.

But then I heard you say this in the documentary, you know, no, no offense to Ralph Macchio, but like he was kind of typecast after that.

And Ralph did not go on to become some huge Hollywood movie star like you did.

But he still had a really respectable and terrific career and still does great work to this day, you know?

Yeah.

But if you think of the karate kid, it's really difficult to picture anyone except him, even if you've just seen the first one you know i don't think i had the skills or the tools or the mindset or anything at at that moment in time to pull off or bring to it what he was able to you know so i think the film would have been different or would have started with me and that it finally just went yeah yeah you know what let's let's go with that italian kid that we had a couple days ago you know so who knows instead of the spanish kid i i instead of the spanish kid you come from a long line of spanish people like a whole family, like Ramon, he's in the documentary, and Emilio.

Your dad's name isn't really Martin.

It's very Spanish.

Do you connect at all with that piece of your lineage?

Just through stories and just through relatives.

And just,

I don't go on the pilgrimages like my brother Ramon does and Emilio and dad.

I guess I lean more into the Irish side of

our roots.

No offense taken.

Yeah, I know exactly where you're going with that.

I would say your love of beautiful women, that's very Spanish.

So like maybe it's in you in other ways that are more silent.

All right, so now you get cast in Platoon, and this too was a role that was supposed to be Emilios.

This was a role that was supposed to go to somebody else that you got because of timing and he took on another project.

One thing led to another.

So you wind up getting this role and that was it, right?

was platoon was the big before and after like now I'm a household name there's there's BP and there's AP

yeah before platoon after platoon yeah

yeah it you know again oh hey there's a nice photo

Johnny what a trip yeah that feels

that feels like a hundred lifetimes ago you know you were a baby um yeah right.

Yeah, we didn't know

what we'd created.

We thought the vets would appreciate it.

We thought other filmmakers would think we'd given a, you know, taken a pretty good shot at it.

But

no, we did not expect that

the entire world was going to join in the celebration.

It was a pretty exciting time.

The first real movie about the war in Vietnam is Platoon.

Then you get the kind of fame that's like you walk into a football stadium and everybody knows you.

Not to mention you could sleep with any woman in there, which, you know, like that's very heady, hugely heady.

And at the same time, you're hanging out with all these big stars.

Like, I didn't know anything about your long friendship with Nick Cage.

Hello?

That's amazing.

Yeah, it's, and, and I, and I think what's in the dock with, with Nicholas and myself and, and, and what's in the book, I think there's some really cool, really just memorable,

you know, unforgettable stuff between us.

You know, it's not all in there.

And that's just, hey, there we are.

And that's out of respect to him and myself.

And, you know, there's some stuff that's just probably better that it just stays between the people and exists only in that moment in time.

But I think there is enough there to

just give a taste, just give a vibe of the kind of the energy that we were both,

you know, that it was weird.

It's like we found each other right when we needed to.

And

it wasn't a competition thing, but we just, I think I talk about something in the book that,

you know,

something about we were both on the verge of complete fission and I brought the missing neutrons, you know, stuff like that.

It's interesting.

I just spoke with Nicholas about an hour ago today.

And this dude

at 9.01

in LA,

knowing it was past midnight East Coast,

downloaded my audio book and listened to it, like started it last night and finished it today

and wrote to me, wrote this beautiful.

uh the penning of of just love and support and and he was just such passion and excitement i i just i called him and it was really, that was just like an hour ago, you know,

because he didn't care about people

about the disclosures you made.

He did not care about the disclosures you made about him.

No,

he loved the stories.

He loved the writing he loved.

He just loved that.

He just loved that he was a part of it.

It was so cool.

It was such a just a loving, I don't want to call it an endorsement.

It was, it was, it was a,

it was just the kind of support that

I would have hoped for, but when you get it for real, you know, especially from him,

it was pretty special.

And I hope he doesn't mind that I'm sharing this with the world, you know.

Now, I have to imagine you've gotten a phone call from literally every gay man who's ever met you and has your number saying, I see a window.

Is it still open?

I mean,

not exactly.

No, it hasn't gone there

because that was a pretty

isolated thing.

And again, that's not about shame or that's not about about anything like that that's just about

you know trying to just be respectful of uh you know other people's privacies and stuff like that but that is kind of funny yeah i actually did have that thought what's it going to be like now in the streets am i going to be getting the thing uh you know what i'm saying yeah yes you're going to be getting the thing if everybody gave him is going to say so you're saying there's a chance for the listening audience charlie reveals in the book that he while on drugs had some a couple of interludes crossing over to the other side.

He's not declaring that he's gay or bi or anything else, but is just being honest about his life, intoxicated and high.

And that's why I say some will see a window.

That's all right.

That's flattering.

I mean, what the hell, right?

It's it's it's it's it's one moment in a very long life.

And I said something the other day that

I guess I just wanted to have just a little bit more in common with

Richard Pryor and Marlon Brando and Mick Jagger.

Mick Jagger.

That's who I was thinking of.

That's pretty good company.

That's some Hall of Famers right there, you know.

But it does have to be a relief.

You know, you write about how you paid people blackmail money to keep that secret.

You came out a long time ago as HIV positive.

You had to pay people to keep that secret.

I mean, this is a lot to be laboring under.

It's exhausting.

It's exhausting.

And to always, anytime the phone rings or you see an email from a lawyer or just, or a manager that always talks to that lawyer.

And it's just, it just got to the point of this,

you know, if this is prison, the only thing that's missing is the bars and the guards, you know.

But,

but yeah, and, and, and, you know, I was talking to Emilio and

he said, uh, he said,

are you cool that like all this stuff is, you know, is out there and like that?

And I said, well, you know, I got to be honest, man, it's, uh, it feels a lot better,

you know, out there there than it did uh in here for so long and so um and and the other thing is like

don't put something in a book and in a doc that come out you know a day apart unless you're gonna be

willing enough uh courageous enough um open enough to discuss those things you know because i did the gma piece i did the gma piece with stray hand which i think went pretty good right yeah And then one of the producers came up and said, wow,

that was so courageous.

And

you didn't dodge it.

And I said, well, yeah, I already wrote about it and spoke about it and put it.

And she said, oh, no, no,

you'd be amazed how many people put stuff in a book.

And then when it comes time to

promote it or discuss it or whatever,

they completely lose their minds.

They just want to run and hide because I guess they never or they didn't see the connection between like, okay, it goes here and then, you know, and then does that.

It's still, you know, it's you're responsible for all of it.

And so

she was annoying publicist who says, don't ask about this.

Meanwhile, the principal is fine asking about it.

So oftentimes it's a function of that.

Having worked on the Today Show, I know that the PR people can be absolutely awful and not

telling you not to ask something like

you've just read it in the book and then you want to tell them, but it's here.

How do I know this?

I know this because he wrote it.

Like he told me.

I didn't pull it out of the ether.

Right.

So some are good.

Yeah.

Some are awful.

I mean, you know, that was actually one of the questions I had for you was not about a PR person, but I was on Fox News in 2011 when you had the two and a half men cancellation and the winning and like the super torqued up Charlie with all the testosterone you write about.

Like it was something like 4,000, which is, I don't know what number is supposed to be normal, but it's like two digits, not three and not four.

I am on a drug, it's called Charlie Sheen.

I'm different.

I just have a different constitution.

I have a different brain.

I have a different heart.

I have a different, you know, I got tiger blood, man.

You don't worry that you're going to die when you take that many drugs.

Dying's for fools.

So you got fired from two and a half men and you went on this like winning tour.

And what I see in the documentary really jumped out at me, which was, this is my opinion: totally douchebag managers who exploited you.

The troubled actor is taking his bizarre behavior out on the road for Charlie Sheen Live, my violent torpedo of truth.

I think what your name is synonymous, and I don't mean this in a negative way, is trouble.

And I think like torpedoes of truth is so brilliant because it's like, it just sounds exciting.

People were like, get out there, go out on the stage, make money.

They want to see you.

Meanwhile, you were in crisis.

So it's kind of irritating as a fan and a viewer to see that happen.

How do you see the role of those around you, the professional people?

In the middle of that whole

chaos,

yeah,

I was

it's kind of a double-edged sword because I was really hard to control.

I had found some different level of,

I don't know what.

There was just some other energy or some other possession or just some

just thing that I just needed to stay attached to.

And I can't even really describe it.

It was, I don't want to say it was out of body because then you're kind of like not owning it.

I knew what was going on.

I just didn't want it to stop.

And that's the part I can't really explain.

When I look back on that stuff, it's like, dude, like, okay, maybe after that interview, you issue a statement or you just like.

go

just disappear somewhere for a month or just but to keep that thing going was just like that's the part um just the energy that required.

I don't have that kind of stamina anymore.

But as far as the people that

I guess you could say were

more complicit than not,

it does take two to tango.

And I say in the book that in this case, it felt like

it felt more like 2000.

But I also specifically write a line about

in the years since

I've combed through the mental health manual, and I still can't find vile exploitation as a treatment protocol.

So

that is a quote from the book.

So yeah,

I am going to point some of that stuff out.

And then when I talk about Mark Berg, and Mark and I

are great friends these days,

but I do say Mark was the gatekeeper.

And I wish he would have had

a better key or a stronger lock

or something that, that or or a lock that looked more like

a comfy chair and a and a and a willing ear.

You know, it's like I

just think there could have been a moment in the middle of all that when someone could have just said, all right, we're going to, you know, the party,

we're putting the, putting the chairs on the table,

putting the lights on, the party's over, this guy's coming with us.

And it, it could have, it, it could have been,

could have been interrupted, you know,

but then suddenly there's this idea for a tour, you know, and I, and I'm like, what would that even, what does that mean?

I'm not a, did I, did I start a band I can't remember forming?

Is there some part of me like, what are we, because touring for me is all, it could only be a musician or like a really popular comedian, right?

And there was nothing funny about my act at that point, right?

But, um, but yeah, and then Live Nation gets involved and I go visit them and suddenly, you know, I'm holding a machete to a cheering crowd and they're booking dates, you know, which is why in the book, the only thing that I describe on that tour is that, is that, I don't want to give it away, but is that incident that takes place in the bathroom, you know?

And I think just symbolically that

that's that's really how I felt about that that that whole

that whole shitstorm.

I watched it and I just thought, I watched it when it happened as a newswoman, and I was horrified at how you were being exploited.

It was obvious you were in crisis.

I felt the same about Kanye.

I did not interview Kanye when he was going on his recent media tour because I could see the guy was in the middle of what appeared to be a bipolar episode.

I did not pile on when that mayor up in Canada was going through it.

Like, I just don't like it when news people, I think news people too have a responsibility not to have you on when you're in that state and pretend that you're okay or that this is an okay interview to be doing because this is a compromised person who needs help, not to be exploited for clicks.

It's very fucking annoying as a news person to watch.

Yeah, no, and that's, that's, that, that's great to hear.

At least there's, there's, there's one of you.

There's, um, no, there's others, I'm sure, but

even the Andrea Canyon of it all, right?

She's terrific, and I'm a fan, and I, you know, she does great work.

She was with ABC at the time, and I put this responsibility on ABC.

Yeah, but I was working out in a gym, and I saw her on a monitor, like up in the corner of the room with the sound off.

And I knew this interview was coming, and I didn't know what the hell it was going to turn into.

But

I was with somebody and I said, hey, what about her?

She looks pretty smart.

She looks like she knows what she's doing.

Maybe she'll do the interview.

I mean, literally, it was like that.

No research, nothing.

Didn't know her backstory.

So she gets just

yanked into this thing, you know, and

then

I,

yeah, she, she was like

just front and center for that thing, you know?

It was like putting on the seatbelt to do that interview.

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I'm Megan Kelly, host of the Megan Kelly Show on SiriusXM.

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I want to talk about sobriety because I think it's kind of interesting how it happened for you.

But before I get to that, the hero in this story, after you, for rescuing yourself from your addictions, or at least from the active addiction, is your dad.

And I just like, to me,

I have such empathy for him because, Charlie, I will tell you that I lost my sister at age 58 two years ago, a couple years ago, and thank you.

And she, she was an addict and she had a lifetime of similar problems.

With her, it started as a prescription pill that she was given.

And like when I saw the number of times your dad intervened and tried so hard, sometimes he did the right thing.

Sometimes it was questionable what he did.

But what I saw was this extremely loving father who really wanted you to stop doing drugs, who desperately wanted you to get better and didn't totally know how to stop it.

And then I saw he didn't participate in the documentary and neither did Emilio.

And I know you say it's because they watched the rough and they said, you got it all covered.

But I did wonder,

is that the full story?

Or do you think there's like a lingering resentment at all there?

Because I certainly think in my family, having an addict is like having a nuclear bomb go off in your nuclear family, and there can be lingering resentment.

Interesting.

Yeah, no,

I think that's all face value.

I think that's all face value with

because I was in the room with them watching both of their reactions to the rough cut.

And

they couldn't have been more excited or passionate about it or celebrated it more.

And

dad was just like, I'm in this.

I'm already in this, start to finish.

And Amelia was like, geez, I don't know what I could possibly contribute beyond what Charlie's already doing.

And I just, I, I genuinely think like they didn't want to get in the way or try to tell my stories through their POV, even though that's sometimes, you know, a, that's part of how, how documentaries get to different parts of stories, and that's a, that's a device that they do lean into.

But no, I, I, I, because I think, you know, we started this about two years ago, so I was, I was, you know, by the, at that point, clean about almost six years.

And so they knew that, that, this, that, um, that I wasn't, you know, I was committed to this thing.

Um, and, and.

You guys are good.

So, like, you feel legitimately like you've made amends with them and you're in a good position.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

No, Emily and I have been texting all day.

He'll he'll read something about the doc or the book and he'll send it to me.

And then, and we just had a terrific piece come out.

He interviewed me for interview magazine.

And so, and then they just print the transcript of our, of our Zoom call.

Even though we live a block from each other, we did it on Zoom, you know, and it dropped today.

And some of it is hysterical.

And anybody that's like, and I'm not saying, but like anybody that might be questioning that we're on the ounce or there's a thing or whatever, it's,

you read this piece and you can see like two guys that are, they're still a couple 12-year-olds like talking about jaws, you know,

and it's, it's, it's, it's a wonderful piece.

Part of what's so great about the movie, the documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, is

the Super 8 film that you guys took of each other when you were kids.

kids, and the way you talk about LA is interesting too.

It makes it sound like a city in which you might actually raise a family back in the day in the 70s and late 60s.

It used to be.

Yeah, it used to be.

It was more rural, you're describing.

And that's why your dad and your mom chose to raise their family there.

But you guys, with the Super 8 videos, like pretend acting, like trying to be actors like your dad, and you were getting good at like the death scenes and the shooting, shooting up, shooting up scenes.

It was like pretty well done.

Thank you.

Thank you uh we were we were we we were front row watching him do it you know um in in his roles on his sets uh sometimes all over the world um there'd even be days and this isn't in the dock um where i'd be with chris penn and i'd be messing around with a cap gun or a starter pistol or something and dad would be watching and he'd be like you know doing a light workout just over in the other part of the yard or getting some sun or whatever and there was one day when he's when he said hey guys guys hold on a second hold on a second.

He says, all right, if you guys are going to do it,

let me show you how it's going to look better.

And I got this, this little cap gun or starter pistol with blanks.

And he says, all right, Charlie, whenever you want,

I'm going to be folding this towel.

You shoot me and I'll show you how a guy would respond, you know, more realistically getting shot.

He's going to be pissed that I shared this, but it's really a cool, a cool memory in a moment.

It's not in the dock.

It's not in the book, but it's right here.

And I turn on him and I fired a shot and he took it.

And it wasn't like this super crazy five-minute dramatic death.

He just buckled and then right on his back.

And Chris and I were just like, oh my gosh.

Okay.

So now we had a template to work from.

Now we had like a real pro who'd been shot on film like a thousand times showing us like,

this is going to up your game.

a lot of parents will sit down with their kids and help them with their homework My dad was showing us like how to take a bullet how to get a fake one then so yeah that's quite helpful pretty wild here's a tough one for you who okay who's who is the better actor Charlie Sheen Martin Sheen or Emilio Esteves

Wow

gosh I think dad's the best dramatic actor of the three of us I think I may have a slight edge in the comedy department,

right?

And I think Emilio is more comfortable than Pop and myself

with romantic stuff.

I can see that.

Yeah, but I didn't answer your question, did I?

Okay, we didn't go to the bottom.

Totally or best, you know, like

who's going to get the Lifetime Achievement Award?

Hopefully, Pop, because, you know what I'm saying?

I mean, he's, he, yeah.

But

I think there's things that he can do that Emilio and I can't, stuff Emilio can do that Pop and I can't, and then finish that triad with the other two that can't.

Yep.

You know, the scene, of course, in Wall Street with you and your dad.

I told you not to get into that racket in the first place.

You could have been a doctor or a lawyer.

You write about, you write as follows.

There are a few moments with dad in that film that had flashes of promise from my end.

He was his usual fabulous self, and I was doing whatever I could to not vanish on screen next to him.

I mean, how special was it that you had that feeling about him and working with him?

And in part, that was portrayed in the relationship, you know, between Bud Fox and his dad in the movie itself.

Right, right, right.

No, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was an incredible experience.

Um, I, you know, little, little pieces of regret throughout that, um, that I could have been more present, that I could have been just more, more dialed in, more professional.

I think what's, what's, I think, covered nicely in the book is that,

you know, Platoon is still burning down the box office when, when we start Wall Street.

And so there was like a lot of distraction.

I wanted the party to keep going.

And I think that I mentioned something about

just wanting to be,

you know,

playfully

drunk on a fancy boat in tropical waters with beautiful women, you know, not like working again, stuff like that.

So there was a lot of distractions

doing that.

So some of the stuff with dad, that that and he was well aware of it.

And so he

was, i think just hoping for a more focused me and that's why i talk about doing my best to not vanish on screen next to him but talent-wise but also just

you know um where where where my head was at you know

and and speaking of wall street

is it time it's time Okay, you know what?

I think we should, let's play SOT 51.

This is a kid.

Calls me 59 days in a row, wants to be a player.

Ought to be a picture of you in the dictionary on a persistence camera.

I just want to let you know, Mr.

Gecko, that I've read all about you at NYU Business, and I think you're an incredible genius.

I've always dreamed of one thing, and that's to do business with a man like you.

What firm you with, Pal?

Jackson Steinem.

They're going places, good junk bond department.

You do the financing on that Jansen investment?

Yeah, yeah, we're working on some other interesting stuff.

Cosmetic company, by any chance?

What are you, 12th man, the deal team lasted, though?

I can't tell you that, Mr.

Gecko.

Great stuff.

Is it true you don't look back fondly on that film that you've only watched it twice?

I liked that scene.

Yeah, what's not to like?

I mean,

there's a lot going on there.

There's some charm, there's some heart, there's some, you know.

Yeah, you know what?

Maybe it's time I revisit this this thing.

You should, because I've seen it at least 20 times, and

it's such a special film.

I love the character arc of Bud Fox, and I think it totally captures what happens to young guys on Wall Street to this day.

My husband actually wrote a book called Ghosts of Manhattan, and it's all about this exact issue.

And I thought you just completely portrayed it.

You nailed it.

And the relationship that you have with your dad in the film is just the chef's kiss on top.

But can we both agree thank you that daryl hannah was miscast

she was and and she knew it and she knew it so really

i mean she could feel it she could feel it um and i think uh maybe some of the way that that um she wasn't as embraced as she could have been by oliver and in just in certain moments you know and i and i do touch on some of that in the book um oliver's the the only guy in the book that i um

I don't want to say I go after him, but I do talk about things because I was describing these other experiences and these other films.

And I'm like, okay,

all this stuff can't just be like this lovey-dovey, flowery actor-director, you know, relationship stuff.

There's, you know,

when it got a little rumbly and a little tense,

I thought that was worth sharing.

And, you know,

it's not about

taking him to task.

It's just about like pointing out things about him that he's freaking pointed pointed out

about other people for years.

You know, he's never been shy talking about certain actors and certain things and experiences.

And so

he can kick his slings and arrows.

Yes, he can.

And he and I haven't worked together since Wall Street.

I mean, that shitty little cameo in the, in the, in the ill-advised sequel to Wall Street, right?

Yeah.

And so, but that doesn't count.

So it's not like Oliver's been banging down my door since 1987, right?

So maybe this approach gets his attention.

Maybe this will get him to reach out.

No, this he'll respect.

All right, your people are telling us we got to wrap.

So I want to see

this.

I know.

I thought we were just getting warm.

The PR people are annoying.

I'm telling you.

Just you'll give me your number later and I'll go directly to you next time.

They'll love that.

Awesome.

This is where I want to end it.

I hope this isn't too dark for you, but

you pulled yourself with some friendships and support out of decades of addiction.

And this time it seems to really be sticking.

You're eight years sober, which is amazing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And here's what I want to ask you.

So I know you knew Matthew Perry.

You write in the book, we were both veterans of the unspeakable.

Really well said.

Thank you.

We did a long tribute to Matthew Perry, who was so talented after he died.

And it was obvious that his addiction had not been totally licked.

And if you don't ultimately lick it and stay off of the drugs and stay clean, it ends the same for virtually everyone.

So please don't do that to us.

Please know how important you are in our culture and as a figure who kids look up to and people admire and want to continue applauding and cheering for for decades to come.

I really hope you know we're all rooting for you and just want nothing but good things for you.

That's amazing.

There's such love and compassion in that.

And

that is a request that I wholeheartedly

have every intention of honoring because it's like you were saying, you know,

drugs are undefeated.

They're undefeated.

It's like 20 million to zero.

You know?

um and i i just i even writing the book watching the doc it's i mean i'm the guy that lived it and survived it and i and i still don't completely know how i i think the why part will be revealed over time and you know and and that's fine that's not that's not on that's that's not up to me but um

but yeah i to to to get through that

you know, several times and then continue to thumb your nose at the universe, I think at that point,

you're asking for it, you know?

And it's interesting because you do talk about

that Matthew,

you know, was still struggling a little bit when he had to go on the tour and promote the book and do all that stuff.

But I could see it and I know a lot of other people could too.

And I could also hear it when I listened to the book.

I could hear just because

for a guy that just had such precision with his diction and his delivery and his timing and just everything.

And it just, it was just

left of center.

And you just felt like, and I read his book.

I read it in a day because I just got so deep into it and nothing else mattered.

And I wasn't stopping until I finished.

And

I so wanted to reach out to him and I didn't.

And

he died a month later.

And it was just, you know,

so yeah,

I don't want to do that to my to my kids.

I don't want to do that to the rest of my family.

And yeah,

if you get a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance, you know, wrap your arms around it and just, you know, just consider it a freaking lotto win every day.

Well, maybe there's a better chance this time, because I'll tell you,

I'm a little younger than you are, but not by that much.

And I've referred to this as my fucking 50s.

You really don't, you don't care what people think of you.

You really change in your 50s for the better.

It's one delightful thing about getting older.

And I think more so when you're in your 60s.

So I feel like you've got all that ahead of you.

You've got all this goodness.

You've hopefully will meet somebody and fall in love, which is not a false god.

You've already got enough money so you don't have to chase the dollar, which is another false god.

You've already proven that you can do all this shit to your body and still stay standing, which check.

Okay, we've got that.

Maybe we won't continue the parties with Nick Cage.

That could be a thing of the past.

That's fine.

I think that that might be a healthy choice.

I leave it up to you.

But whatever you choose, I really hope it fulfills you like from the inside and that you have like a, maybe not a fucking 50s, but like a

spectacular 60s and beyond because we all are rooting for you.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

That is, that is, that just, that's, that's the nicest thing ever.

That is, that is so sweet.

And, and, and coming from you, that, that, that means the world.

Thank Thank you.

Wow.

All right.

Well, I will talk to you on the next episode of the Megan Kelly Show, where I'll be thinking of you as I say the word SOT 40.

That's amazing.

This has been a pleasure.

All the best, Charlie.

Or SOT 60.

That's right.

SOT 60 in honor of Charlie Sheen.

All the best.

See you soon.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for listening to the Megan Kelly Show.

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