Charlie Sheen has spent decades in the spotlight as a Hollywood bad boy, sitcom star, and tabloid fixture. He’s been labeled a ladies’ man more times than he can count, but now he’s rewriting the narrative.
On Friday, September 5, the 60-year-old actor revealed for the first time that he has also had sex with men. In an interview tied to his new memoir The Book of Sheen and upcoming Netflix documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, Sheen told People: “I’m not going to run from my past, or let it own me.”
This is not a comeback. It’s a revelation.
aka Charlie Sheen premieres September 10. pic.twitter.com/r66Aj7E35m
— Netflix (@netflix) August 13, 2025
In the documentary — set to premiere on September 10 — the Two and a Half Men star is asked how it feels to finally go public, and he answers without hesitation. “It’s f***ing liberating,” he says. “[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.”
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As for why he stayed silent for so long? Sheen told host Michael Strahan on Good Morning America that it came down to one thing: extortion. “It did come with a tremendous amount of extortion,” he admitted, explaining that paying people off felt like the only way to keep his secret. “Alright, let’s just pay to keep it quiet… make it go away.”
He said those constant threats left him feeling “held hostage.” Speaking now, Sheen stressed that he doesn’t see himself as a victim. “I just need to be free of that and then see how the world feels if people know that stuff.”
The revelation comes as the Golden Globe winner continues to mark milestones in his personal life. He says he’s now eight years sober and focused on family, sharing two daughters, Sam, 21, and Lola, 20, with ex-wife Denise Richards, and 16-year-old twin sons, Max and Bob, with ex-wife Brooke Mueller.
