Martin Sheen talks about son Charlie’s public meltdown in new interview

The actor says he felt ‘powerless’ during his son’s 2011 breakdown
'Powerless': Martin Sheen talks about how he felt during his son's meltdown (Photo: Jonathan Hordle/REX)
Jonathan Hordle/REX
Ben Travis26 May 2015

Actor Martin Sheen has spoken about his son’s very public 2011 meltdown in a new interview with the Radio Times.

Charlie Sheen’s outbursts and erratic behaviour saw him fired from his sitcom Two and a Half Men, before he embarked on a bizarre nationwide tour called My Violent Torpedo of Truth / Defeat is Not An Option.

"What he was going through at that time, we were powerless to do much. Except to pray for him and lift him up,” his father Martin Sheen explained.

"Only those of us that knew him understood what was going on. I'm talking about steroids, at that time. He was in a very desperate situation. And he was doing what he felt would get him out of it – going public. And it was very painful. No less painful for him."

After his initial meltdown, Charlie Sheen starred in new comedy series Anger Management, which also saw Martin appear as his father in several episodes. However, the show wasn’t critically successful – a point which Martin spoke about in his interview.

Best TV dramas 2015 - in pictures

1/9

"Anger Management didn't set the bar that high," he admits. "I was delighted to work with Charlie – I adore him, and he asked me to do it. But we all knew that it was pulled together very quickly to get Charlie [involved], rather than to have a more interesting theme. It was too surface."

Martin Sheen is currently starring in Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie, the first season of which recently premiered on the streaming service.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in