revelations

Maybe It Was Harder for Charlie Sheen Than We Thought

Photo: Splash News/Splash News
Photo: Splash News/Splash News

This weekend, the Telegraph talked to Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez about their new film The Way, and after a dutiful 24 paragraphs (!) about the movie, the interviewer finally brought up the addled, ranting elephant in the room: Charlie Sheen. “You know, Charlie’s 45 years old,” said father Martin. “He’s not a kid. Emotionally he still is. Because when you’re addicted, you don’t grow emotionally. So when you get clean and sober you’re starting at the moment you started using drugs or alcohol. You’re emotionally crippled.” Brother Emilio blamed Sheen’s addiction problems on his genes: “We all had the same set of rules [growing up], so it really gives credence to this theory that it is genetic, and that sometimes it skips either a generation or siblings. My mother doesn’t drink. My other brother hasn’t had a drink in over 10 years, my dad hasn’t had a drink in 20. And I make wine.” So yes, it’s probably the genes. Or it could have something to do with the terrible, terrible story Emilio has about the making of Apocalypse Now.

Emilio recalled that in 1976, when he was 14 and Charlie was 11, the then-alcoholic Martin brought the whole family into the Philippines during typhoon season while he shot Apocalypse Now. “When he got drunk … he’d get violent,” said Emilio, who also revealed how little his father cared about his family’s safety:

“My father and mother, neither of them cared if Larry Fishburne [Sheen’s teenage co-star] and I jumped in a jitney and went to Manila for the weekend. President Marcos was in power, martial law was in effect, and you were shot on sight if you were seen on the street after 1am. What were they thinking?” He says he recently asked his parents that very question. Their reply was, “We had four of you. If we had to lose one, we would. We were just trying to survive.”

Such a nice thing to say to your children! Also, this makes Charlie Sheen’s newfound, very public obsession with Apocalypse Now very poignant, wouldn’t you say?

The Way: interview with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez [Telegraph UK]

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Maybe It Was Harder for Charlie Sheen Than We Thought