‘It became impossible to conceal my sloppiness’: Charlie Sheen blames Nicolas Cage for getting him sent to rehab

Charlie Sheen has revealed that his hard-partying days with Nicolas Cage ultimately led to his first intervention and trip to rehab. The 60-year-old actor details the wild experiences in his new memoir, The Book of Sheen, where he recounts running into “my old pal Nicolas Cage” while filming the 1990 movie The Rookie.

According to TMZ, Sheen stated that this reunion “opened the door to a different warehouse of mischief” and marked a turning point in his life. He, Cage, and three other friends formed a group they called “J-5” and embarked on a series of late-night escapades.

In the controversial actor’s memoir, Sheen describes their adventures with colorful language, writing that “We stumbled through night after madhatted night like some mobile Mardi Gras looking for the next guardrail to barrel through.” The partying was so intense that Sheen admits he “stopped caring” about his work, and “it became impossible to conceal my sloppiness on set with Clint [Eastwood].”

Charlie Sheen needed help, and his friends knew it

The intervention came at the end of filming, when Sheen was invited to his father, Martin Sheen’s, 50th birthday party, only to find that it was a planned intervention with family and friends, including actor Rob Lowe. The “Platoon” star was then taken to Saint John’s hospital in Santa Monica, California.

However, even with the seriousness of the situation, Sheen was more focused on his plans to judge a Hawaiian Tropic bikini contest in Palm Springs with Cage. This is a lot like previous hookups he’s mentioned. He managed to convince a nurse to let him out for the night by promising to give her $1 million if he didn’t return by 9 AM the next morning.

Sheen describes the trip as a “bona fide Class 3 blowout,” admitting he doesn’t remember much of it, other than sharing a bag of cocaine with a woman. Despite his wild night, he returned to the rehab facility at 8:44 AM.

The Book of Sheen, which is available now, also covers Sheen’s HIV diagnosis and years of other well-documented, tumultuous behavior. The memoir offers a candid look into his life, including the moments that led to his first real confrontation with his personal issues. The fact that his hard-partying with Nicolas Cage was the straw that broke the camel’s back is, frankly, pretty wild, and it’s a testament to how his life was spiraling out of control at the time.

The anecdote about him promising a nurse a million dollars just to go to a bikini contest is so unbelievably on-brand for him, it’s almost comical. It’s clear from his own words that the partying became so excessive that it began to interfere with his work, which, for a star of his caliber at the time, is pretty significant.

The inability to “conceal my sloppiness” suggests a level of recklessness that he couldn’t hide even from a seasoned professional like Clint Eastwood. The intervention itself, while not what he wanted, was clearly needed. The story of him sneaking out of rehab is just a perfect example of his mindset at the time, more concerned with a party than his own health.