What is Charlie Sheen's Net Worth and Salary?
Charlie Sheen is an American actor and producer who has a net worth of $3 million. Charlie Sheen rose to fame in the 1980s with his roles in such films as "Red Dawn," "Platoon," "Wall Street," and "Young Guns." He later became a television star, with his most famous show being the sitcom "Two and a Half Men." The role won him numerous awards including a Golden Icon Award and ALMA Award.
Sheen is known for his turbulent personal life involving substance abuse, domestic violence, conspiracy theories, and various inflammatory statements. Unfortunately, that turbulent life has eradicated much of his former massive fortune. At his absolute peak, Charlie Sheen's net worth was in the $150 million range.
At his absolute career peak, Charlie Sheen was worth around $150 million thanks to his backend equity points on "Two and a Half Men" and a potentially lucrative contract for the show "Anger Management." During his time on Two and a Half Men, Charlie was the highest-paid actor on television, earning $1.25 million per episode. In later seasons, when you include backend syndication points, Charlie earned closer to $2 million per episode. That meant, in a 24-episode season, Charlie would earn around $48 million per year. In 2011, Charlie was fired from Two and a Half Men after getting into a controversial and public battle with the show's creator, Chuck Lorre.
Unfortunately, as we detail in the next section below, Charlie has apparently lost the vast majority of his former fortune thanks to well-publicized legal costs, child and spousal support payments, extravagant lifestyle expenses, and more. In August 2018, Charlie claimed to be in a "dire financial crisis. The admission came as he was seeking a reduction in child support obligations, which amounted to $1 million per year – $500k to Denise Richards and $500k to Brooke Mueller. In recent years, Charlie has reportedly been close to foreclosure on at least one occasion before finally selling the home at a steep loss. He was cash-strapped to the point where he briefly moved in with his parents and now rents a modest house in Malibu for himself. Much more about Charlie's finances in the next section.
Loss of Fortune
Charlie's personal life has always been extremely erratic and expensive. Prior to September 2016, Charlie was paying $110,000 PER MONTH to two ex-wives. After Charlie sued to have the payments reduced due to his weakened financial status, a judge changed his monthly spousal payment to $25,000 per month, per ex. He also pays around $500,000 per year to support his kids.
In a March 2016 court filing, Charlie claimed to have $12 million worth of debts, mostly made up of various mortgages. He also claimed his monthly income had dropped from an all-time peak of $600,000 to around $167,000. Charlie's monthly medical expenses are $25,000. In the filing, he also revealed that in the previous four years, he spent $10 million settling with people who were threatening to make his HIV status public.
Finally, it's well documented that Charlie has spent millions on hookers and drugs during his life. In August 2018, Charlie submitted an updated document to a Los Angeles court saying he's "had a significant reduction in earnings" and was "in dire financial crisis with less than $10 million to his name." He further claimed to be unable to make his monthly child and spousal support payments because he had "been unable to find steady work and [has] been blacklisted from many aspects of the entertainment industry."
In September 2019, Denise Richards claimed that Charlie owed her $450,000 in child support and that he squandered the $24 MILLION he received for the sale of his equity stake in "Two and a Half Men," which he was supposed to use to square his personal debts.
Also, in 2019, Charlie nearly lost his primary Los Angeles home to foreclosure. He paid $7.2 million for the Beverly Hills mansion in 2006. He listed it for sale optimistically in 2018 for $10 million. In April 2019, he lowered the asking price to $7.99 million. In January 2020, he finally accepted $6.6 million. Charlie sold a similar property in the same area for a $400,000 loss in 2015.
After moving out of his Beverly Hills home, Charlie briefly moved in with his parents, Martin and Janet Sheen. He then briefly rented a trailer in an upscale Malibu mobile home park. In June 2022, Charlie began renting a relatively modest home in Malibu for a bit more than $16,000 per month.
Charlie Sheen Salary
How much did Charlie Sheen Makes per episode of Two and a Half Men? At the peak of his time on "Two and a Half Men," Charlie Sheen was making $1.25 million per episode. That amount grew to $2 million when you include back-end syndication points. A season is typically 24 episodes, so Sheen's annual salary was roughly $48 million at his absolute peak. That made him the highest-paid person on TV at the time up to that point.
The only actors who have earned higher per-episode salaries are Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, who both earned $2 million for their roles "The Morning Show," and Sara Jessica Parker, who earned $3.2 million per episode on Sex and the City from 2001 to 2004. Sarah's salary per episode is the inflation-adjusted equivalent of earning $4.332 million in today's dollars.
Early Life
Charlie Sheen was born Carlos Irwin Estevez on September 3, 1965, in New York City. He is the youngest son born to actor Martin Sheen and artist Janet Templeton. He is of Spanish and Irish descent and has three siblings, all of whom became actors: Emilio Estevez, Ramon, and Renée. When he was still young, Sheen moved with his family to Malibu, California. He was educated at Santa Monica High School, where he played baseball and began developing his passion for acting. Just weeks before graduation, Sheen was expelled from school due to poor grades and attendance.
Film Career
Charlie's interest in acting was developed early on in life after he took a supporting role in one of his father's films at the age of nine. He also made his own movies with not-yet-famous friends like Chris Penn and Rob Lowe.
Sheen first appeared on film as a kid in the early 70s with uncredited parts in two films starring his father: "Badlands" and "The Execution of Private Slovik." His first real role came in 1984 in the teen Cold War film "Red Dawn." The year after that, Sheen starred in the crime drama "The Boys Next Door." He had his biggest year yet in 1986, which began with supporting roles in the teen films "Lucas" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Later in the year, Sheen starred in "The Wraith" and Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film "Platoon," which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar. He reunited with Stone in 1987 for "Wall Street"; also that year, he starred in "No Man's Land" and "Three for the Road." Sheen subsequently starred in two 1988 films: the historical baseball drama "Eight Men Out" and the biographical Western "Young Guns." The following year, he starred in another baseball film, "Major League," and wrote and narrated "Tale of Two Sisters."
Sheen began the 90s with starring roles in five films: "Cadence," "Courage Mountain," "Men at Work," "Navy SEALs," and "The Rookie." He went on to star in numerous other films throughout the decade, including "Hot Shots!" and "Hot Shots! Part Deux,"; "The Three Musketeers,"; "Terminal Velocity,"; "The Chase,"; "The Arrival,"; "Money Talks,"; "Shadow Conspiracy,"; "Bad Day on the Block"; "Postmortem"; "No Code for Conduct"; and "Five Aces." In the new millennium, Sheen's first credit was the comedy "Good Advice." He appeared on film less frequently after that, although he had notable parts in the comedies "Scary Movie 3" and "The Big Bounce." Sheen's next starring role came in the 2012 comedy "A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III." His credits since then include "Machete Kills," "Mad Families," and "9/11."
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Television Career
Sheen had his first role on the small screen in the 1984 television film "Silence of the Heart." After that, he appeared in an episode of the anthology series "Amazing Stories." In the 90s, Sheen was in episodes of "Friends" and "Sugar Hill."
His first main role in a regular series came in 2000 when he replaced Michael J. Fox as the star of the sitcom "Spin City" for its final two seasons. For his work, Sheen won his first Golden Globe Award. Also in 2000, he starred opposite his brother Emilio in the television film "Rated X."
Sheen played his longest-running and most acclaimed television role from 2003 to 2011 on the sitcom "Two and a Half Men." He starred as Charlie Harper, a bad boy bachelor loosely based on Sheen's own image. Over the course of his eight seasons on the show, he earned four Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. After Sheen was fired from the show for making demeaning comments about its creator, Chuck Lorre, his character was killed off.
He went on to have a highly publicized meltdown during which he claimed he was a "warlock" with "tiger blood." Sheen subsequently became the star of the sitcom "Anger Management," which ran from 2012 to 2014. Later, he appeared in episodes of "The Goldbergs" and "Typical Rick." Charlie Sheen is set to appear in the Max series "How to Be a Bookie" in 2023.
(Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
Anger Management Deal
After getting fired from Two And A Half Men, Charlie landed at FX with a deal that had the ability to become extremely lucrative. Sheen signed what is called a 10/90 deal to star in the show "Anger Management." With a 10/90 deal, a star like Charlie is given an unusually large percentage of syndication ownership points, in this case, 30%, as opposed to a more normal 1-3%. Charlie also agreed to take a huge per-episode salary cut, knowing that he just needed to hit that magic syndication pot of gold to make an insane fortune.
In the case of Anger Management, if the first ten episodes maintained a certain ratings level, another 90 episodes would be ordered by the network, in this case, Lionsgate. Then, assuming certain ratings levels were maintained, once the show was sold into syndication, Charlie would have gotten 30% of the profits. And that 30% of profits, in theory, could have been hundreds of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, Anger Management's ratings were fairly atrocious, especially in the second season. When the 100 episodes were brought to the syndication market, demand was very soft. As of this writing, the show has still not produced a profit, and therefore, Charlie has not received his huge cash windfall. In May 2016, TMZ reported that Charlie had not received a single payment from his syndication deal. A massive failure for Mr. Sheen, who otherwise could have made millions with a more traditional TV deal. The series ended in the second season after a 100-episode run.
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Substance Abuse and Health Struggles
In 1998, Sheen had a stroke after taking cocaine and overdosing. Following his hospitalization, he entered a rehabilitation clinic. In 2015, Sheen disclosed to the public that he was HIV positive, having been diagnosed about four years prior. This revelation led to the greatest number of HIV-related Google searches in American history. Sheen is also a major donor of the organization Aid for AIDS.
Marriages and Relationships
With his high school girlfriend, Sheen had a daughter in the 1980s. He later became engaged to actress Kelly Preston, who broke off the engagement after Sheen accidentally shot her in the arm. Sheen married his first wife, Donna Peele, in 1995; they divorced the following year. Throughout the decade, Sheen dated a number of other women, including porn stars Ginger Lynn and Heather Hunter.
In 2002, Sheen married his second wife, actress Denise Richards. They had met on the set of the film "Good Advice" two years earlier. Together, they had two daughters. The couple divorced in 2006 after Richards accused Sheen of domestic violence, drug abuse, and looking at pornography. Denise, at times has also accused Charlie of not being up-to-date on spousal and child support payments. In September 2019, Denise claimed that Charlie owed her $450,000 in support payments.
Sheen subsequently wed his third wife, actress Brooke Mueller, in 2008. They had twin sons before divorcing in 2011. Sheen went on to live with porn star Bree Olson and model Natalie Kenly for a brief period of time. In early 2014, he got engaged to former porn star Brett Rossi; the engagement was broken off later in the year.
Real Estate
In 2006, Charlie paid $7.2 million for a 9,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Located within a gated community called Mulholland Estates, this is the house that became infamous at the peak of his controversial antics. This is where he lived with several girlfriends whom he called his goddesses after separating from Brooke Mueller. Charlie listed this house for sale in 2018 for $10 million. Unfortunately, he was forced to accept $6.6 million in January 2020. Below is a video tour from 2019 of Charlie Sheen's former Beverly Hills mansion:
The above mansion was not Charlie's first piece of real estate within the Mulholland Estates community. In 2011, he paid $7 million for an equally large mansion down the bock. He sold this home in 2015 for $6.6 million. In 2012 he bought another Mulholland Estates home, this one for $4.8 million. He sold this home in 2016 for $5.4 million. Kendall Jenner bought this home several years later from a different seller for $8.5 million.
Charlie Sheen has also owned properties in Agoura Hills, Sherman Oaks, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. In June 2022, after shedding most of his LA real estate, Charlie began renting a home in Malibu, California, reportedly for $16,350 per month.
