Charlie Sheen is six years sober after breaking a promise and disappointing his daughter
Charlie Sheen will celebrate six months sober in January but recalls the difficult moment he knew he had to put down the alcohol and drugs to become a better man for himself and his daughter, after he disappointed her.
The actor had been sober for 11 years prior to a relapse after he was diagnosed with HIV in 2012, adding that his unpredictable and manic behavior was caused by substance abuse. Nobody knew about his diagnosis until three years after the fact, so he threw himself into partying as a coping mechanism.
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But after letting down his then-13-year-old daughter Sami as he was unable to drive, his failing as a father left him in a make-or-break situation that allowed him to gain an epiphany to cut out drugs and alcohol.
"One morning I'd forgotten my daughter had an appointment I'd promised to drive her to," Sheen said to People. "I'd already had a couple of pops that day. So had to call my friend Tony to take us.
"We got her there on time, but it broke my heart because she was in the backseat and I could just tell she was thinking, 'Why isn't dad driving?'
"So I got home and sat with that for the rest of the day and the next morning I just stopped."
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Now over half a decade later, he's settled into a solid life as he raises his young children who are approximately the same age as Sami was back when he decided to get clean.
He wakes up in the early hours of the morning to begin his day by consuming news media and answering emails before his children wake up and he helps them.
"Next month I'll be six years sober," Sheen added. "I have a very consistent lifestyle now. It's all about single dad stuff, and raising my 14-year-old twin boys Max and Bob.
"I'm proud of the choices that I've made and the changes I've made to live a life today that will never look like that mess," he said of his former self. "That was some alien version of myself."
The actor has five children in total, Cassandra (38), Sami (19), Lola (18), Max and Bob (14) and he now bids to return to Hollywood after an exodus due to battling with his own struggles following a foul-mouthed tirade on CBS.
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