Charlie Sheen Is Sorry About ‘Ruining’ ‘Two and a Half Men’
Two and a Half Men has long-since faded from the CBS spotlight, and erstwhile series star Charlie Sheen himself has been understandably quiet since news of his HIV diagnosis last year. Now, a new interview with Matt Lauer sees the star with a long list of regrets, among them the controversial exit that nearly ended Two and a Half Men altogether.
Some eight months after revealing his HIV positive status on Today (which itself followed weeks, if not years of rumors), Sheen sat down with Matt Lauer to lay out a few regrets over his long life. Naturally, Sheen’s condition and treatment efforts dominated focus, though the former Two and a Half Men star slipped in a brief reference to his famous 2011 meltdown:
I regret not using a condom one or two times when this whole thing happened. I regret ruining Two and a Half Men. I regret not being more involved in my children’s lives growing up… But, we can only move forward from today, and they wouldn’t call it the past if it wasn’t.
It’s debatable if Sheen’s exit “ruined” Two and a Half Men, even as the actor’s bizarre behavior and feud with creator Chuck Lorre understandably dominated the news cycle for a bit. After all, the series managed to run an additional four seasons with Ashton Kutcher in the lead role, surviving arguably stranger meltdowns, though the 2015 finale certainly showcased Lorre’s continued resentment with Sheen, to comically return and kill off his character via body double.
If nothing else, Sheen at least appears to be taking responsibility for his public episodes, but would Two and Half Men have been better to keep its star?