There was a time when Charlie Sheen used to be one of the highest-paid actors on television, thanks to the phenomenal success of Two and a Half Men and all the recognition that he earned through the top-rated sitcom. The Golden Globe winner used to get paid a whopping $1.8 million per episode toward the end of season 8. Sadly enough though, a fat paycheck and a flourishing career couldn’t hold him back from getting ensnared in the shackles of addiction.
There came a time when Sheen’s crippling addiction and an array of other issues ended up complicating things at work, so much so that after about eight years of working on Chuck Lorre’s Two and a Half Men, the actor was fired from the show. But his co-star, John Cryer, never stopped praying for Sheen’s betterment.
Charlie Sheen Has Battled With Drug Abuse And Addiction
Charlie Sheen has had an agonizingly long struggle with substance abuse and alcoholism throughout his life, with his plights dating back to the ’90s. From overdosing on cocaine to facing charges of assault, the Wall Street star has had a highly publicized history of drug abuse, misdemeanors, and controversies.
While his vices kept getting the best of him every now and then during the early stages of his addiction, things took a turn for the worse after his infamous arrest in 2009; and it only went downhill from there.
During the Christmas of 2009, the Hot Shots! star was incarcerated in Aspen, Colorado, on the grounds of domestic violence against his then-wife, Brooke Mueller. Three months after the arrest, Sheen once again found himself facing charges of felony menacing, assault, and criminal mischief.
Then, in October 2010, the Platoon star was hospitalized after the police found a reportedly intoxicated Sheen in his suite at the Plaza Hotel, an incident that took place just months after he’d checked himself into rehab. And as much as his friends and co-workers tried to help him through those wretched times, the only thing Sheen was getting closer to was becoming a lost cause.
John Cryer Was Rooting for Charlie Sheen’s Recovery
All this while, Sheen had been an active part of CBS’ award-winning sitcom, Two and a Half Men. He was played the lead role of Charlie Harper in the comedy since 2003, earning immense popularity and praise for the same. But as the grip of debauchery got stronger, the actor’s personal and professional lives ended up clashing to such a vehement extent that he put his entire career in jeopardy after getting fired from his most lucrative gig.
After his stint in December 2009, Sheen’s manager, Mark Burg, reached out to his co-star and close friend from Two and a Half Men, John Cryer, to help him out during those tough times. And Cryer immediately realized that his friend had fallen into the pits of drug abuse anew.
“I told him I would be happy to but that it sounded like Charlie wasn’t sober anymore, and I hoped he’d get on track again,” Cryer told THR in an interview. “Situations like this are rough on your sense of friendship and loyalty because the allegations are serious.” But that didn’t stop the Pretty in Pink star from believing in Sheen’s ability to recover.
The production of Two and a Half Men had been brought to a halt in 2010 when Sheen had gone to rehab in February. But despite his attempts at recovery, he only fell prey to his misdeeds again and again until he was kicked out from the show in March 2011 for his “dangerously self-destructive conduct” and his overwhelmingly negative comments about the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre, on multiple occasions.
Today, however, Sheen has been sober for over a year. He is still good friends with Cryer, albeit they don’t hang out much these days. Hopefully, the actor will keep walking the path of recovery until he’s fully healed.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
