'Can't is the cancer of happen'

My mother recently told me she was praying for Charlie Sheen.

That's good, because it appears he needs it.

Sheen, the star of the CBS television sitcom "Two and a Half Men," has been at the forefront of celebrity gossip for years, making tabloid headlines time and again for drug and alcohol-fueled antics and personal scandals.

Things have ramped up lately, with Sheen staggering through the media spotlight since January when production of "Two and a Half Men" was shut down. At the time, Sheen, 45, announced that he was entering rehab.

It seems, based on his recent behavior, that Sheen's rehab experience didn't take.

Perhaps that was because his choice of treatment center was his home. He claims to be "100 percent clean," and that he did it all on his own.

His actions speak otherwise.

Sheen has been on a media blitz, acting outrageous and lashing out on radio and television shows, often at "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorre.

The sitcom was scheduled to go back into production this week, but CBS shut it down for the rest of the season after one of Sheen's diatribes was broadcast on a syndicated radio show.

Charlie Sheen makes Lindsay Lohan seem demure.

Sure, party girl Lindsay shows up late for televised court hearings, occasionally wearing a low-cut blouse or dress that's one sneeze away from becoming a Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction.

But at least the young actress, also known for her excessive partying and inability to refrain from drinking alcohol, has some good sense. She mostly keeps her mouth shut and feigns tearful annoyance with herself, the media and everyone in the universe. She doesn't look like she's enjoying herself when she's in front of the judge, or anywhere else really.

Charlie Sheen, however, has taken the drug- and- alcohol-fueled celebrity crash and burn to a whole new level - by becoming a drug himself.

The public can't seem to get enough of his exploits, feeding like jackals on the twists and turns of his careening personal life.

The media doesn't have to follow Sheen. He's driving that bus, blaring all the details out into the world all on his own. He presents himself on an alternately manic, giddy, and petulant silver platter.

The troubled TV star opened a Twitter account this week, and started sending those tiny hard-to-decipher, inside joke-like messages known as "tweets" out to anyone willing to receive them. Within two days, Sheen had 1 million Twitterers following his little broadcasts.

During his media tour, Sheen has talked often about how he's winning something, but no one is sure what that is. He tells of "tiger blood" coursing through his veins. He has referred to himself as a warlock. Those are just a few recent Sheenisms that have, in the past few days, turned the actor into a punch line, a parody, an Internet meme.

Former Press entertainment writer Tyler Wilson says actor James Franco is probably ecstatic. Sheen's hogging of the media spotlight has diverted attention from Franco's stilted performance as host of the Oscars on Sunday.

Sheen appeared on the "Today" show Wednesday morning, with his lawyer by his side. The night before, his twin 2-year-old sons had been removed from his home.

He talked about how Los Angeles Police Department officers took his babies away from the home he shares with a former porn star and another woman.

That's why I'm glad my mom is giving a prayerful shout out every now and then on Sheen's behalf.

The guy is obviously sick. He's got a disease that tells people there's nothing wrong with them as they continue to do the things that are progressively driving them insane, and Sheen's got it bad.

"No. Not going to. Period. The end. I blinked and I cured my brain. Can't is the cancer of happen." That's what Sheen said when someone asked him if he was relapsing.

They say alcoholics and drug addicts can't recover until they've "hit bottom." How does a person reach that turning point when he has enough money and influence to get people to enable his behavior?

Dr. Drew Pinsky, addiction doctor to the stars, talked about Sheen when he appeared on Piers Morgan's show on CNN last week.

"The problem with him now, he's getting so impaired pyschiatrically that eventually - provided he doesn't get really medically ill or harm himself or somebody else and the legal system steps in - eventually, the psychiatric system is going to step in," said Pinsky, a medical doctor and addiction specialist with his own reality show on VH1, "Celebrity Rehab."

Pinsky said those who criticize CBS and Sheen's father, actor Martin Sheen, for not being tough enough, have it wrong.

"If someone is really adamant about not getting help there is only so far you can go," Pinsky said.

Pinsky lauded CBS's handling of the situation as Sheen's behavior became more and more erratic.

The only way CBS could get Sheen off the set was to shut his TV show down, Pinsky said. The decision affects hundreds of others who work on "Two and a Half Men."

"Addicts are great people. They're wonderful people," Pinsky said. "It's not that he's a bad guy. He's doing things, God bless him, that suggest he's going to a place that's going to be very dangerous."

And God bless my mom, for recognizing the pain Sheen is in for what it is, and for not reveling in his misery as he slides deeper and deeper into a very dark place.

It's not about having sympathy for a guy with so much money he can do whatever he wants with very few consequences. It's about having compassion for a guy who could have everything, and is so sick he doesn't realize how little he actually has.

Maureen Dolan is a reporter for The Press. She can be reached at 664-8176 Ext. 2005, or via e-mail at mdolan@cdapress.com.