Washington, D.C. – While promoting their movie “The Way” in Washington, D.C. Friday, Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen expressed love and support for their sometimes troubled family member, actor Charlie Sheen. Their comments, shared exclusively with The Daily Caller, mark the first time either has spoken publicly about Charlie’s troubles since March.
Martin, 71, and Emilio, Charlie’s 49-year-old brother, have reconciled with the wayward Charlie. In fact, they now say there never was truly a split.
“Charlie showed up to the AARP screening last Friday [in Los Angeles] and surprised us on the red carpet. It was lovely to see him,” Emilio told The Daily Caller during his film tour’s stop in Washington, D.C., Georgetown neighborhood. “The photos are all up on the Internet.”
“You know, we’re a tight family,” Emilio added. “I live right down the street from my folks. I talk to my mother every day. I’m a momma’s boy. We all are. So there’s no exclusion in this family. You’re part of it. We embrace you and lift you up.”
Nearly a year ago, Charlie’s public meltdown started making headlines after he was hospitalized when police found him naked and intoxicated after a hotel owner complained that he had trashed his room.
What followed was a rehab stint, a failed stand-up comedy tour, a restraining order from his wife Brooke Mueller, ever-present rumors about his live-in girlfriends — an adult film star and his former nanny, and of course the birth of “tiger blood” and “winning!” jokes.
But all that is in the past, says his father, Martin; he doesn’t hold Charlie’s antics against him any more than he would against his other two children. (RELATED: Charlie Sheen’s rambling radio interview: ‘I’m an F-18, bro, and I will destroy you’)
“When somebody is spinning out like that, do they not live closer to your heart?” the elder Sheen asked TheDC. “That’s what we were going through. Yeah, we couldn’t control it. We couldn’t get in there. But we knew that there was someone home. That’s the guy. We embrace him.”
“As a parent,” Martin explained, “Which one do you love the most? You love them equally. But you direct your love — do you not? — to the one who needs it the most at the time. It doesn’t mean you love one less than the other, but whoever needs the most at the time, you go to them. That’s what we experienced.”
“And they did that for me,” he added. “I’m nuttier than a fruitcake. They never abandoned me. That’s why I think I’m still married.”
Martin Sheen will celebrate 50 years of marriage with his wife Janet Templeton in December. He has publicly discussed his own battles with addiction and his mental breakdowns, but he has been sober for more than 20 years.
Estevez is the family name, but Martin and Charlie took the stage name Sheen while Emilio kept Estevez, as did his actor siblings Ramon Estevez and Renee Estevez.
Emilio Estevez wrote the screenplay for “The Way,” a film about a man on a religious pilgrimage through France and Spain as he mourns his son. The film stars Martin Sheen and opens October 7.
Earlier this year, Charlie was engulfed in a highly public meltdown, feuding with “Two and a Half Men” creator Chuck Lorre, ranting about warlocks and trolls in video podcasts, and acting so erratically that he was fired from his lucrative sitcom job.
Later, his father Martin pleaded for compassion for Charlie, now 46, and compared his drug addiction to cancer. Charlie responded by publicly telling his father to “shut it” and saying his father’s comments were “rooted in bullocks.”
More recently, Charlie has been on a reconciliation tour of sorts. During the September 18 Emmy Awards broadcast, he expressed support for the new “Two and a Half Men” cast. Days before, he admitted to Jay Leno: “I would have fired me too.”
Last week Charlie Sheen reached an undisclosed settlement with Lorre and Warner Brothers to end a multi-million dollar lawsuit related to his termination from the popular sitcom.