American actor, Charlie Sheen is speaking publicly for the first time about his past sexual encounters with men, a revelation he describes as “liberating” after years of secrecy and extortion threats.
In his upcoming memoir The Book of Sheen and Netflix documentary aka Charlie Sheen, the 60-year-old actor said he decided to “flip the menu over” after years of being with only women.
“Liberating. It’s f—ing liberating … just to talk about stuff,” Sheen said in the documentary, according to People. “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.”
The Two and a Half Men star admitted he began having sex with men after he started smoking crack. “That’s what started it,” Sheen said. “Some of it was weird. A lot of it was f—ing fun, and life goes on.”
He also revealed that his encounters were kept secret for years because he was being extorted. “There was a tremendous amount of extortion,” Sheen told Good Morning America. “At the time, I was like, ‘All right, let’s just pay to keep it quiet and hope it goes away.’ I felt held hostage. It’s a bad feeling.”
Sheen, who disclosed in 2015 that he is HIV positive, said he contracted the virus during his drug-fueled years. He recalled that people who stayed at his home would secretly photograph his HIV medication and threaten to expose him unless he paid them. “I gave in for a while, but eventually I decided to reveal it myself,” he said.
The actor stressed that he never transmitted HIV to any of his partners. “I do know for a fact that I never passed it on,” he told People.
Now sober since 2017, Sheen said he has been making amends and no longer wants to hide parts of his past. “I’m not going to run from my past or let it own me,” he said. “It takes two to tango.”
His memoir The Book of Sheen will be released on September 9, followed by the Netflix documentary aka Charlie Sheen on September 10.
