Charlie Sheen is speaking out about his current experience with fatherhood.
The actor claims that he is currently raising his two youngest children, 14-year-old twins Max and Bob, on his own. As he explained to People, most of his time lately has been spent on “doing single dad stuff.”
The boys’ mother, Brooke Mueller, has struggled with drug addiction for several years. He said that recently she “has been trying to figure some stuff out on her end, so she’s not in the picture too much right now.”
Charlie Sheen says he has sole custody of the 14-year-old twins he shares with Brooke Mueller. (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Project Angel Food)
Mueller’s rep declined to comment on the situation to Fox News Digital.
Sheen, who also has three daughters — one with a high school sweetheart and two with ex-wife Denise Richards — called his sons “really cool, really smart and really funny,” but admitted they do have a bit of a problem “worshiping their devices.”
He laughed, “Although on the flip side, when they’re doing that it gives me a little time to not be dragging them all over the city. But I also feel like the screens detract them from having other opportunities to expand their minds in other areas.”
Charlie Sheen poses with sons Bob, left, and Max at his birthday celebration with family at Buca di Beppo in Encino, California, on Sept. 3, 2011. (Chelsea Lauren/WireImage)
Sheen went through his own period of addiction several years ago — Richards famously took the twins in at one point when Sheen and Mueller were both deemed incapable of caring for them. But now, as he’s preparing for a return to television and focusing so much on parenting, things seem to be looking up.
Fox News Digital takes a look at other celebrity fathers who have raised or are raising their children on their own.
John Travolta
Kelly Preston and John Travolta pose for a photo together in 2018. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The “Gotti” Film)
John Travolta and Kelly Preston were married in 1991, and they had three children together: Jett, who died at 16 in 2009; Ella, 22; and Benjamin, 13. Preston passed away in 2020 after battling breast cancer.
In 2021, Travolta appeared on Kevin Hart’s interview show “Hart to Heart” and shared an intimate conversation he had with Benjamin about the loss of his mother, recalling, “(Ben) said to me once, ‘Because mom passed away, I’m afraid you’re going to.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s a very different thing.’ And I went through the differences about my longevity and her limited life.”
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He continued, “I said, ‘Ben, you have always loved the truth, and I’m going to tell you the truth about life. Nobody knows when they are going to go or when they are going to stay. Your brother left at 16. Too young. Your mother left at 57. That was too young. But who’s to say? I could die tomorrow. You could. Anybody can. So let’s look at it like it’s part of life. You don’t know exactly. You just do your best at trying to live the longest you can.”
Kelly Preston and John Travolta pose with their children Benjamin and Ella in 2018. (ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Last year, Ella made a touching Father’s Day post on social media for Travolta, calling him “the smartest, kindest, most generous man I know.”
She added, “Just by being yourself, you have taught me the most important lessons in life. Thank you for everything you do and for being my friend. I love you Daddy.”
Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson became a single father after his wife Natasha Richardson died in 2009. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Liam Neeson was married to actress Natasha Richardson from 1994 until her death after a skiing accident in 2009. They had two children together, sons Micheál and Daniel. They were 13 and 12, respectively, when their mother died.
In 2014, he told GQ that raising his sons on his own was “just still a day-to-day thing,” explaining, “They’re flexing muscles and sometimes dangerous avenues, and you think, ‘F—. If Tasha was here, someone could share this.’ But yeah, we’re doing all right, you know?”
Natasha Richardson and Liam Neeson were married for 15 years before her death. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
He said, “The thing Tasha and I really wanted to instill in them was manners. That may sound like such a basic thing, but I’ve heard so many adults say, ‘Oh, my God, your sons — they look you straight in the eye. They’re very polite and mannered.’ It makes me proud. And it can get you through a lot, in a way. Just showing respect for your fellow man.”
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Neeson also admitted to “drinking too much” after losing his wife. In another 2014 interview, this one with “60 Minutes,” he said that grief sometimes hit him “like a wave. You just get this profound feeling of instability.” He stopped drinking altogether in 2013.
Micheál and Daniel, now 28 and 27, are both actors. Micheál took on his mother’s surname of Richardson, something Neeson said was “the right thing” to do.
Natasha Richardson is seen with her sons in November 2008, just months before her death. (NICHOLAS RICHER/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
“I think it was a lovely homage, a nice gesture and he’s, you know, he’s not saddled with my last name which, I have a certain celebrity status I guess,” Neeson told Andy Cohen in 2020. “I’d hate for him to be constantly asked, ‘Oh, are you Liam Neeson’s son?’ So, it was a lovely gesture. Natasha’s family, mother and sisters, were very touched by it, as indeed I was, too.”
Kevin Federline
Kevin Federline and Britney Spears have two sons together. (J.Sciulli/WireImage for Ogilvy Public Relations)
Kevin Federline met Britney Spears in 2004 at a nightclub, and months later they were married. They welcomed two sons together, Preston and Jayden, before divorcing in 2007. At the time of the divorce, they split custody, but a few months later, Federline would receive sole physical custody because of what a judge called Spears’ “habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol.”
In 2008, when Spears began experiencing trouble with her mental health, Federline was awarded sole legal custody as well. Spears was given visitation rights. In her recently released memoir, “The Woman in Me,” she claimed that she agreed to her conservatorship for her kids.
“Because I played by the rules, I was reunited with my boys,” Spears explained.
Britney Spears poses with sons Jayden James Federline, left, and Sean Preston Federline at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on April 17, 2013. (Getty)
She eventually gained more custody, though Federline has remained the kids’ primary caregiver. They have lived with him since the divorce. Earlier this year, they moved to Hawaii with Spears’ approval.
After years of getting along, some tension began to show in 2022. Spears and Federline both shared negative posts on social media about the other, which they both deleted. Soon after, Preston and Jayden did a rare interview with ITV to discuss the situation.
While Jayden clarified that there was “no hate” involved towards anyone, he said that “it will take a lot of time and effort” to fix their relationship with their mother. He clarified, “I 100% think this can be fixed. It’s just going to take a lot of time and effort. I just want her to get better mentally. When she gets better, I really want to see her again.”
Kevin Federline has raised his sons with Britney Spears largely on his own. (Bryan Steffy/WireImage)
In a message directly to Spears, he said, “I love you a lot, I hope for the best for you. Maybe one day we can sit down like this and talk again.”
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They reportedly haven’t seen each other since early last year.
Dean Cain
Dean Cain is father to one son, Christopher. ( Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Dean Cain has one child, a son named Christopher, 23, with ex-girlfriend Samantha Torres. The couple broke up when their child was still a toddler, and after a bitter court battle that lasted for 18 months, they agreed to split custody in 2003.
In 2011, Cain was given sole custody, which he maintained until Christopher became an adult.
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In 2014, the actor told People, “Stability-wise this is what’s best for him.” Cain and Torrres agreed to the arrangement so that their son could be brought up in one home.
Christopher and Dean Cain pose for a photo in 2017. (Steve Granitz/WireImage)
He admitted it can be “difficult” to juggle everything, but said, “I’ve learned to make the decisions that put him first.”
Last year, Cain told Fox News Digital that the decision to raise his son on his own “affected my career like I can’t even explain. I turned down being one of, if not the highest-paid actor on television, for a show that ended up going six years.”
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“The contract was very attractive,” he said. “But I was in the middle of a custody dispute, so I could either be a father or take that job. It took me a split second, not even a split second.”
Having a father in a child’s home is something Cain called “hugely important,” and he added, “I would never change what I’ve done in terms of being a father versus a career.”
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