Charlie Sheen voluntarily heads to rehab

LOS ANGELES — Charlie Sheen’s publicist announced Tuesday the actor has entered rehab and is taking a break from television’s top-rated comedy, “Two and a Half Men,” prompting the network to announce it is temporarily halting production of the show.

“As a preventative measure, Charlie Sheen has entered a rehabilitation facility,” publicist Stan Rosenfield wrote in a four-sentence statement that did not specify why Sheen, 44, was seeking treatment. The statement sought privacy for the embattled actor.

Sheen’s bosses expressed support for the actor in a statement that said production of “Two and a Half Men” would temporarily stop.

“CBS, Warner Bros. Television and (Executive Producer) Chuck Lorre support Charlie Sheen in his decision today to begin voluntary inpatient care at a treatment center,” the statement said. “We wish him nothing but the best as he deals with this personal matter.”

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The statement offered no timetable for when the show would resume taping.

The move comes roughly two months after Sheen was arrested after a fight with his wife at his Aspen, Colo., home. Prosecutors later charged the actor with felony menacing and misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and criminal mischief. The most serious charge carries a maximum three-year prison term.

Slideshow: Charlie Sheen Assistant District Attorney Arnold Mordkin said Tuesday he had not heard about Sheen entering rehab and could not discuss what bearing it might have on the case.

Sheen’s wife, Brooke, is also in rehab seeking treatment for an undisclosed reason, her attorney Yale Galanter said Monday. She is still asking that the charges be dismissed, he said.

Galanter and Rosenfield confirmed Monday that Los Angeles child protective services workers visited the actor and the couple’s infant sons over the weekend. Galanter and Rosenfield said it was a routine, previously scheduled visit related to the Aspen court case.

Galanter did not immediately return a phone message Tuesday.

Until Tuesday, Charlie Sheen’s legal problems hadn’t disrupted taping of “Two and a Half Men,” one of CBS’ top shows and television’s top-rated comedy.

The comedy was averaging 14.7 million weekly viewers before Charlie Sheen’s arrest. Recent new episodes have drawn nearly 18 million viewers, and 10.6 million people tuned in last week for a rerun, according to ratings released by the Nielsen Co.

The show, about the romances and family life of two brothers (Sheen and Jon Cryer), is the anchor of CBS’ Monday comedy lineup, which also includes “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother.”

In early January, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said the network was being sensitive to what it considered a “very personal and private matter for Charlie.”