Charlie Sheen speaks for the first time on drug-fuelled sexual encounters with men

Charlie Sheen has disclosed that he has had intimate encounters with men in his candid new book and documentary. The 60 year old actor, who received backing from former wife Denise Richards at Thursday's Los Angeles premiere of the Netflix series aka Charlie Sheen, has been frank about his previous relationships in these projects.

"I flipped the menu over," the Wall Street star confessed in the forthcoming book and television programme regarding his choice to engage in sexual relations with men. "I'm not going to run from my past, or let it own me," he said whilst promoting both ventures.

Sheen acknowledged he was using crack cocaine when these sexual encounterswith men took place.

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"That's what started it," Sheen informed the publication. "That's where it was born, or sparked. And in whatever chunks of time that I was off the pipe, trying to navigate that, trying to come to terms with it - 'Where did that come from? ... Why did that happen?' - and then just finally being like, 'So what? So what?' Some of it was weird. A lot of it was f**king fun. And life goes on", he told People magazine.

During a Friday appearance on Good Morning America,Sheen was questioned about why he concealed these particular experiences with men.

"It did come with a tremendous amount of extortion. So, at the time, I was just, 'All right, let's just pay to keep it quiet, and hope it stays there, make it go away,'" he explained his rationale.

"They had videoed things or whatever and had stuff over me, so that was kind of held hostage, you know, and that's a bad feeling."

He revealed thathe decided to disclose his HIV status in 2015, saying, "I just need to be free of that and then see how the world feels if people know that stuff." He described sharing the news as a "tremendous relief."

In an interview, when asked about discussing his experiences with men for the first time, the Platoon actor responded, "Liberating. It's f***ing liberating... [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," according to People.

Sheen has since given up drugs and claims to have been completely sober for eight years. He has tried to make amends to those he hurt, and insists he doesn't want those reading his book or watching the docu-series to feel like he's playing the victim.

Born Carlos Irwin Estévez, Sheen is the son of Emmy winner Martin Sheen, 85. He began his acting career in small roles in his father's films, but made a name for himself in 1983's Red Dawn alongside Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray, and had his breakout performance in 1986's Platoon, as a young recruit sent to fight in the Vietnam war.

He portrayed a morally dubious stock broker in 1987's Wall Street, a film which earned co-star Michael Douglas the Academy Award for Best Actor. The actor became a household name as a wild bachelor in the hit series Two and a Half Men, until he was sacked in 2011 due to erratic behaviour caused by his drug use.

Today,Sheen, who is a father of five, is now leading a much quieter life. He has a 40 year old daughter, Cassandra, with his high school sweetheart Paula Profit. With his ex-wife Denise Richards, he shares daughters Sami, 21, and Lola, 20. The Young Guns star also has 16 year old twins Bob and Max from his marriage to ex Brook Mueller.

"My romantic life is as uneventful as it possibly could be, and it's been that way for a long time," he revealed to People. "It wasn't even by choice, but the girls [Sami and Lola] moved in and then when they moved out, the boys moved in, and there wasn't enough room in the car," he explained.

"Plus, I spent so much time and energy chasing that for so long. I had to get to a place where I could be alone, but not lonely."

His new book, The Book of Sheen, will be released on September 9 and his Netflix debut, aka Charlie Sheen, will premiere on September 10.

*Frank offers confidential advice about drugs and addiction (email frank@talktofrank.com, message 82111 or call 0300 123 6600) or the NHS has information about getting help.

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