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Charlie Sheen is reflecting on an alcohol intervention his family and friends staged for him 35 years ago, and the surprising person who ultimately convinced him to seek help that day.
In the new two-part Netflix docuseries aka Charlie Sheen, the 60-year-old actor recounts an intervention his family organized under the guise of a 50th birthday party for his father, Martin Sheen. Held on Aug. 3, 1990, the intervention preceded Sheen’s first attempt at recovery — spurred in part by an unexpected phone call from Clint Eastwood.
“I get invited to my dad’s birthday party,” Sheen recalls in the docuseries. “I think Mom called me: ‘Dad’s got things to do, so we have to do it early.’ She’s like, ‘We’re thinking 9:00.’ I’m like, ‘a.m.?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah.’ ” The former Two and a Half Men star continues, “She brings me into the house, and I’m looking for balloons, a cake, funny hats.… And as I come around the corner, I see the living room has this really expertly organized circle of people.”
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According to Sheen, the assembled group was “a weird mix.” It included his 7th grade history teacher, his yoga instructor and Rob Lowe, as well as his siblings Emilio, Ramon and Renée and his parents.
Though many close friends and family were present, Sheen’s longtime friend Sean Penn was not. “I was never involved with those interventions,” Penn, 65, says in the documentary. “I was not, you know, walking a perfect trail of my own in some regards.”
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Sheen describes the day as “very emotional” and says he remained mostly silent as everyone in the room read heartfelt letters. “There’s a lot to process,” he says. “I’d kind of heard about these things, but never been this close to an intervention.” When he asked if he could take some time to think about rehab, the group was firm: “They said, ‘No. This is a decision we’ve made for you that has to happen today.’ ”
Initially resistant, Sheen was considering pretending to agree just to escape. “I was figuring, ‘If I just agree to this, just to get out of this situation, I can probably hatch a plan somewhere away from here,’ ” he admits. Just as he was considering how to get out, his father stepped out of his office and said, “There’s someone on the phone who wants to talk to you.”
Expecting a family member, Sheen took the phone and heard a voice he knew instantly. “It’s a very recognizable, very globally familiar voice,” he says. “It’s Clint.”
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Recalling the conversation with Eastwood, his soon-to-be The Rookie co-star, Sheen says, “[Clint] said something like, ‘You’ve got to get the train back on the tracks, kid.… You’re worth saving.’ ” He adds, “It was really powerful. I thanked him, gave the phone back to Dad and said, ‘All right, let’s go.’ ”
After years of wild living, Sheen finally got clean for good in 2017.
“You have to be willing,” he says. “I keep a [mental list] of the worst, most shameful things I’ve done, and I can look at that in my head if I feel like having a drink,” he told PEOPLE this month.
aka Charlie Sheen is now available to stream on Netflix.
