Charlie Sheen was convinced to go to rehab by one of the greats of Hollywood.
Sheen recalled an alcohol intervention his family and close friends held to convince him to go to rehab and reclaim his life. The Two and a Half Men star was invited to the convention under the guise of his dad’s birthday party in 1990.
"I get invited to my dad’s birthday party," Sheen recalls in the docuseries aka Charlie Sheen. "I think Mom called me: 'Dad’s got things to do, so we have to do it early.' She's like, 'We’re thinking 9:00.' I’m like, 'a.m.?' She’s like, 'Yeah.' "
"She brings me into the house, and I’m looking for balloons, a cake, funny hats.… And as I come around the corner, I see the living room has this really expertly organized circle of people," he recalled.
The group included his siblings Emilio, Ramon and Renée and his parents, as well as his 7th grade history teacher, his yoga instructor and Rob Lowe. The group read heartfelt letters to the actor.
"There’s a lot to process," he says. "I’d kind of heard about these things, but never been this close to an intervention." He remembered asking the group if he could take some time to process and think about it.
"They said, 'No. This is a decision we’ve made for you that has to happen today.'"
He considered acting to agree and then hatching an escape plan, but none other than Clint Eastwood convinced him to actually go.
"I was figuring, ‘If I just agree to this, just to get out of this situation, I can probably hatch a plan somewhere away from here,'" he admits
Then his dad told him there was someone on the phone for him.
"It’s a very recognizable, very globally familiar voice," he said. "It’s Clint."
"[Clint] said something like, 'You’ve got to get the train back on the tracks, kid.… You’re worth saving.' "
"It was really powerful. I thanked him, gave the phone back to Dad and said, 'All right, let’s go.'"
Sheen struggled with alcoholism for years and finally got sober in 2017. His documentary aka Charlie Sheen is streaming on Netflix.