Time tends to heal most wounds, and it can also help to settle initially foul feelings, which has certainly been the case with Charlie Sheen, an actor and entertainer whose career was forever changed by a selection of rash and judgmental comments made during his hectic Two and a Half Men exit. Let’s flashback to June 2022, when the Wall Street vet shared a mostly negative reaction to daughter Sami Sheen joining the online platform OnlyFans, putting some of the onus on his ex-wife Denise Richards. He had a change of heart soon after, and has now reflected on that turn of events 18 months after it all went down.
Sami Sheen opened up about her life as an OnlyFans model, and her acceptance of being a sex worker, for a Bustle profile in which she admitted to not knowing very much about her father’s publicized flings with sex workers. (In her words: “My mom kept me very shielded my whole life.”) But despite his own personal interests, her famous father’s first instinct wasn’t “heavy support” upon hearing the news, and he puts some of that on parental instincts. Here’s how he explained it:
I had a knee-jerk reaction to it because of the reputation that preceded it. I was just like, ‘Oh, this can only go bad.’ That flies in the face of my approach to things normally, but I think when your child is involved, it presents as just a whole different alternative set of circumstances. She’s doing this and it can only be a much more successful and pleasant experience with the support of myself, her mom, and others. I have to have confidence and just know in my heart that all of her virtues and all the wonderfulness that makes her, her, come with her. I believe her to be incorruptible.
Many fathers would have the same knee-jerk reaction to hearing about their daughter making such a career choice, but without the worry that those thoughts will make news headlines the way that Charlie Sheen's did. His concern was seemingly as much about OnlyFans as a source of employment as it was about how she would be seen as an employee. The possibility of her charging fans for pictures and videos of her scantily clad body was presumably also a factor, but he was hopefully able to change his purview after seeing that Sami herself was comfortable with and confident in the platform.
As Sheen put it, it came down to the trust and confidence in her ability to make good decisions for herself, as opposed to taking issues with what she specifically set out to do. If she wanted to sell furniture for a living, and wanted to work with the shadiest furniture retailer on the planet, her pops might have had a similarly anxious response. Or maybe not.
Sheen only mentioned Denise Richards in the context of her also being supportive of their daughter, and not so much about the actress following suit and starting up her own OnlyFans profile. That situation seems to still be going smoothly, so here's hoping things are all positive in that respect as well.
As for his where his own career is going next, Charlie Sheen is reteaming with Chuck Lorre, his Two and a Half Men creator, for the upcoming Max comedy How to Be a Bookie. No word on when that project might arrive, given all the strike delays, but 2024 seems like a great time to have Sheen back on the small screen. And if he wants to start up an OnlyFans profile to boost awareness, he has my support.
