Last night, Charlie Sheen’s children were removed from his home, according to Sheen, after a judge granted a restraining order to his estranged wife, Brooke Mueller.
This is not surprising. Among the many bizarre statements Charlie Sheen made to the media this week — calling himself a warlock, claiming he’s cured his drug addiction by closing his eyes — one stands out for parents.
After an NBC reporter asked if he was worried that his children will read all about this one day, Sheen said the following:
“God no. Talk about an education. They’ll be like, ‘That’s the guy and we can get all the answers and the truth? Wow!’ Winning!”
Perhaps his children will be proud of dear old dad, who has been linked to shooting his girlfriend, overdosing on cocaine, dating porn stars and destroying a New York hotel room. Perhaps not.
But Sheen brings up an interesting question: Might there be “answers” found in a parent’s addiction or erratic behavior? Could a child, in fact, learn how to live better, if only by learning what not to do?
“Parents make mistakes and kids sometimes end up doing the exact opposite, which is sometimes true,” says author Nick Flynn. “Not for me.” His acclaimed memoir, “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City,” chronicled his estranged relationship with his alcoholic father, who he re-met while working at a homeless shelter (the movie version, starring Robert De Niro as the dad, starts filming this week).
“I did similar things that my parents did,”?Flynn admits. “And addiction tends to get passed along unless something interrupts it — the cops, maybe.”
Sheen, for one, says he plans to rededicate himself to his family. “Dude, you’re 45 with five kids,” he told NBC. “Let’s do something different. Because this thing is boring.”
