What We Can Learn From Charlie Sheen

 “On a basic human level, there is concern that this man is a father, he has children, he has a family. But you can't look at it simplistically. Charlie is a professional, he comes to work, he does his job extremely well. It is very complicated,” Tassler told a group of journalists. What prompted this high level of concern about Sheen’s children, apparently, is the flood of constant reports about the actor’s propensity for hard-core drinking and drug use, partying in very public places, destruction of property, and threats of violence (at knife point) towards his third wife that – thankfully – weren't carried out. When Charlie went on a rampage in a hotel room last October, his naked porn star girlfriend locked herself into the bathroom to escape him. An “allergy to medication” caused this headline-making incident according to Sheen’s spokesman (yep).

Sheen is currently the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, bringing home about 1.8 million bucks an episode for portraying an aging, woman-chasing bachelor on “Two and a Half Men.” That’s million with an M, folks. He’s descended from Hollywood royalty on his father’s side – highly respected actor Martin Sheen – and has shared this title with brother Emilio Estevez, a successful actor and executive.

We first met Charlie in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam masterpiece “Platoon” where he starred alongside Tom Berringer, Willem Dafoe and a very youthful Johnny Depp. His subsequent role in “Wall Street” with Michael Douglas pretty much ensured Charlie’s success and, indeed, since that time he has been forgiven much. 

If Charlie’s story rings familiar, perhaps it’s because it smacks of the wild popularity, on-top-of-the-world career, hard partying with buddies and women friends, and subsequent self-destructive downfall of Mel Gibson. Once the most powerful and adored actor of his day, Gibson was tolerated after making derogatory remarks about women and Jews when stopped for DUI several years ago. After a heartfelt apology to the world in general, we let Mel back into our hearts and wallets. Then Mel did it again, this time in a truly unforgivable way when he drunkenly ranted at the mother of his young daughter last year in a tirade laced with profanity, racial slurs, and threats of violence. Mel is gone for good, it’s said.

And Charlie? What we’ve learned from him is that if you’re still fairly young (40-something), male, with a remarkable fan base, if you’re the offspring of true greatness, if you doggedly keep trying to curb your bad behavior, and if you star in the most-watched and highest-grossing show in the US, then TV execs will only be “concerned” about you instead of kicking your butt to the curb as has happened to the likes of Gibson, Robert Downey, Jr., Lindsay Lohan, Natalie Cole, Nick Nolte, et.al. Some have made it back from the purgatory of drug-fueled self-destruction, like superstar rapper Eminem and heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne, with class, style and for-real displays of true grit. Whether or not Charlie Sheen will show the same total acceptance of personal responsibility and take the long way home to sobriety and enduring success has yet to be seen. So far, the Hollywood gang of enablers who talk of their “concern” while still forking over that 1.8 million give him zero reasons to straighten up his act. Will someone have to die – either Charlie or someone else – before this “concern” results in action?

Charlie, we wish you well. Get a grip, okay? It’s never too late.