Charlie Sheen looks back on ‘winning and tiger blood’ ten years after his life went off the rails

Charlie Sheen’s illustrious acting career has arguably been overshadowed in the media by his ‘warlock’ days of ‘winning’ during a very public slump ten years ago.

On the 10th anniversary of Sheen’s ‘tiger blood’ meltdown, the now 55-year-old recounts his downfall and makes plans for his ‘Act 3’ in a candid new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment.

In 2011, Sheen was at the top of his professional career as the highest paid actor on television when he plunged into drug abuse and mental health issues.

‘People have [said to] me, “Hey, man, that was so cool, that was so nice to watch. That was so cool to be a part of and support and all that energy, and, you know, we got it to the man detained, ”Sheen recalls in his interview.

My thinking behind that is, “Oh, yeah, great. I’m so glad I traded in early retirement for a damn hashtag,” he continued, referring to #winning and #tigerblood – two of his famous phrases that are permanently in the zeitgeist of pop culture.

A decade ago, Charlie had dozens of high-profile movie roles to his name and nearly two million reels in an episode of his CBS hit sitcom Two and Half Men.

Despite his blossoming professional success, the actor internally walked a dark path of addiction and mental health problems on the heels of his divorce from third wife Brooke Mueller.

Sheen gave a series of highly publicized interviews with various news outlets where he seemed hyper, out of control and scattered. The glassy-eyed star made his now iconic statements declaring he was “winning,” drinking “tiger’s blood,” having “adonis DNA,” and other banter.

When network executives tried to bring him in, he demanded a higher salary and took part in a public feud with the powers that be at CBS, such as Les Moonves and Chuck Lorre.

‘There is a time when [former CBS CEO] Les Moonves and his best attorney, Bruce, were at my house and they said, “Okay, the Warner jet is being refueled on the runway. The wheels are going up in an hour and going to rehab, right?” My first thought was kind of real… there’s a comedic value to what my first thought was, ”Sheen recalled.

“Just then, when I said,” Oh, damn, I finally got the Warner jet. ” That’s all I’ve heard, ”he continued, adding regretfully. ‘But if I could have gone back in time to that moment, I would have got on a plane. And it was that gigantic left turn at the time that led to, you know, a very unfortunate sequence of public and insane events. ‘

Sheen was fired from Two and a Half Men in March 2011 and replaced by Ashton Kutcher in the series.

“There were 55 different ways to deal with that situation, and I chose number 56,” he said. “And so, you know, I think the growth for me is post-meltdown or melting forward or melting somewhere – whatever you want to call it – it has to start with absolute ownership of my role in everything.” Add that his behavior was “desperately youthful.”

Unknown to the public at the time, Sheen was diagnosed with HIV that same year – a fact he would reveal later in 2015. When he finally announced his diagnosis, the actor revealed that he had spent nearly $ 10 million since 2011 to keep his HIV. status a secret.

“I think it was drugs or the residual effects of drugs … and it was also an ocean of stress and a volcano of contempt,” said the Major League star of his breakdown. “It was all self-generated, you know.”

“I got charged and my brain wasn’t working properly,” Sheen continued. “To say it was a bit overwhelming is a radical understatement.”

The 2011 incidents weren’t Sheen’s first or even second brush with substance abuse. Charlie has been arrested in the past on charges of drugs and assault and in 1998 he had an overdose of cocaine in which he suffered a stroke.

He has also been in rehab several times for his problems.

After his firing from Two and a Half Men, Sheen gave a series of sold-out one-man shows at the Radio City Musical Hall with hordes of fans wearing tiger blood T-shirts and screaming ‘winning’ from the audience.

The backing and fanfare of his rock bottom, as if it were done intentionally performatively, he recalls, really made the situation worse for him.

“They showed up in droves with banners and songs, all kinds of fanfare and celebration of, you know, what I think was a very public display of a moment of sanity,” he said, looking back.

On the heels of his slump, Sheen seemed to straighten himself out and played two seasons on the Anger Management series on FX, but then largely fell off the map. However, he has plans to get back in front of the camera.

“ I just have, I have absolute confidence that the things I’m going to do professionally in Act 3 will all of those things be a muzzle and people can re-celebrate me for what I’m actually doing for a living, ” he told Yahoo .