Charlie Sheen emerges from 'one crazy chapter'

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   >>> charlie sheen looking to make a comeback after a rough year personally and professionally. we'll get to matt's exclusive interview in a moment. first nbc's jeff rossen who spent a lot of time with charlie during the controversy has the latest.

   >> good morning, carl.

   >>> this year charlie sheen lost his kids and his job and, he says, he quit drugs and alcohol too. now charlie says he is a changed man making amends with his ex-wives and hollywood .

   >> please welcome the rock star from mars, charlie sheen .

   >> there he is, back in the spotlight. exactly where charlie sheen likes to be. his latest project? a roast on comedy central . the guest of honor? the man, himself.

   >> prostitutes cost a lot of money, charlie . hasn't anyone told you that actresses will sleep with you for free? that's hollywood 101.

   >> sheen , considered a hollywood a-lister, was the highest paid actor on television, making nearly $2 million an episode on the sitcom "two and a half men." but things started to unravel last year when sheen allegedly went on a drunken rampage against a porn star at new york's famed plaza hotel . there was a stint in rehab and then rehab at home. network executives had enough and fired sheen from "two and a half men." i spoke with charlie as it all unfolded in february.

   >> you're angry.

   >> i'm not angry. i'm passionate. that's like everybody thinks i should be like begging for my job back and i'm just going to forewarn them that it's everybody else that's going to be begging me for their job back.

   >> reporter: in the end they offered his job to someone else . ashton kutcher . sheen endured a bitter custody battle over his twin boys. the kids, removed from his mansion on camera. all the while sheen was living with two women he called his goddesses.

   >> it's pretty normal. you know?

   >> reporter: sheen is no longer with the god desses but he did coin some strange phrases that live on.

   >> duh. winning. they picked a fight with a warlock. tiger blood. adonis dna. tired of being like a total rock star from mars.

   >> reporter: today charlie sheen is repairing relationships starting with his ex-wife mother to his twin boys brooke mueller the couple spotted together celebrating his birthday earlier this month. he is 46.

   >> i'm doing great. i'm killing it. it's going to be a blowout you know?

   >> sheen is also developing a new sitcom called " anger management ." still unclear what network will buy it. as we know he likes to make a splash. his " comedy central " roast airs monday night the same night as the season premiere of "two and a half men" which reportedly features his character's death. must be a coincidence.

   >> jeff rossen , thank you for that. now to matt's exclusive interview with charlie sheen . they sat down earlier this week and began by talking about charlie 's current emotional state .

   >> how are you?

   >> doing really good.

   >> yeah?

   >> really good.

   >> physically?

   >> i feel great.

   >> how about emotionally?

   >> emotionally is a whole different story, matt.

   >> tell me about it.

   >> got about seven hours?

   >> well where are you?

   >> no, good emotionally.

   >> i got this sense last time we spoke and i was watching you on these other interviews that you were in a bit of a manic and i don't mean that as a diagnosis.

   >> sure.

   >> i mean it more as an adjective.

   >> yeah.

   >> a manic period. you were running in a hundred different directions physically and emotionally.

   >> sure, yeah.

   >> how would you describe your emotional state now?

   >> it's really a lot calmer. it's a lot mellower, yeah. no, that was a time when, you know, what -- what happened -- i don't really know what happened. it was one of those things where, boy, the planets were either aligned to -- perfectly or imperfectly -- but i just said some stuff and then it caught such traction globally and instantly that i couldn't -- i couldn't really put out the fire , you know, so i had to kind of keep fueling it. all it was was --

   >> why did you think you could put it out? because you were in control of what you were saying and you were the one granting the interviews and the assurances.

   >> sure. why couldn't you manage to put the brakes on it?

   >> well, because it took on a life of its own and people grabbed on to these catch phrases , these metaphors as it were. and they just ran with it. it seemed like it caught people at a time when they needed something different to root for, or to get inside of and feel the energy, you know. it's, again, impossible to explain how something like that can happen. i don't think it can ever happen again.

   >> what was it like to be in the middle of it? could you even get your arms around how big it became? did you understand --

   >> no.

   >> how many people were talking about you?

   >> no, no. it was like being shot out of a cannon into another cannon and then just shot out of that one. yeah. it was like one, from one moment to the next. i didn't know what was going to happen. it was pretty exciting. and then a whole --

   >> scary or exciting?

   >> both. both. yeah. but, you know, i had the whole thing i don't believe in fear and defeat is not an option and i had to live by those mottos regardless of how i felt. but yeah, looking back on it, i mean, i don't think i would trade it but there's portions of it i might have amended a little bit.

   >> like? what would you have done differently?

   >> just, i don't know, the tiger blood, adonis dna stuff like that is so silly and people took it so seriously and i figured all right. i'll continue to give people what they want. you know?

   >> when this began, charlie , you were the highest paid actor on television. since that time you don't work for the show anymore?

   >> i don't.

   >> did you realize it was going to end that way with you not being on "two and a half men" anymore or did you think this was a little forest fire that broke out but that would be put out in time to save you and the show?

   >> i thought when i was still doing my tour that there was a shot.

   >> did you want there to be a shot? did you want to stay with the show?

   >> there was a time when i did, absolutely. oh, yeah. regardless of how i felt about some of the people or how it went wrong or why it went wrong, i still wanted to have some measure of closure with the show, you know. that's the part that really hurt the most was not feeling like i could ever really finish it.

   >> was there a thought in your mind, though, that they needed you so badly that you could behave pretty much any way you wanted and at some point they would have to come back in the end and mend fences?

   >> i thought for sure that ah they can't do this without me. come on. you know. the show is about this guy. which is a little confusing, matt, when you think about it. they create a show about a guy, you know, who's a partier. that guy starts partying then gets fired. it's like, make up your minds, people. you know?

   >> one is a role and the other is real life here.

   >> yeah, yeah, yeah. but, yeah. i guess those lines can get a little blurred, you know.

   >> you, i think it was maybe back in february or something you said you were going to get clean. you were turning your house into a sober valley lodge. right?

   >> said that as a joke.

   >> well, are you sober?

   >> yeah. absolutely.

   >> when is the last time you had a drink or something more?

   >> i don't really keep track of the time. it's been a while but i don't -- because i feel like without getting into my whole feelings about aa and all that stuff, i just feel like, you know, if you're walking around hanging on to your time that it's only, you know, a matter of time before it goes.

   >> you're no longer with the goddesses?

   >> uh-huh.

   >> is that correct?

   >> yeah.

   >> so what is the biggest way your life has changed on a daily basis?

   >> my children. seeing my kids a lot more. mending fences with denise and brooke. just trying to move forward and prioritize what matters. you know, just really get back in touch with just more -- with some more reality and some more -- it's what i call the moments inside the moments. i think that's where the life is, you know, it's in those quiet moments. it's not the giant tv deal or the big party or the award or whatever. it's the memory of your child's smile at the end of the day that sort of brings that one lonesome tear. you know that tear, right, matt?

   >> i've had those tears, more than one lonesome one.

   >> right. but it's those moments that matter .

   >> how hard is it to men fences given what you've been through in the last year?

   >> there's always a chance, you know, to fix things or to forgive or to be forgiven. and you just got to be -- or i have to just be mature enough and focused enough and on point enough to know that at the end of the day it's not just about, you know, wanting solution or wanting harmony. it's about what i can bring to it and how i can lead by example again, you know.

   >> you seem like a very different guy. you know, i'll be perfectly --

   >> sane?

   >> i didn't say that. but i'll be perfectly honest. this isn't what i expected.

   >> oh, really. thank you.

   >> you're much more interroe introspective today than you were when we spoke on the phone six months ago.

   >> well, i think it's important that people see that i see and that i feel that that was just one crazy chapter, one weird phase, and that i was, you know, this guy before it started so i could be that guy again afterward, you know.

   >> so we've talked about how your life has changed on a daily basis. how much impact do you think this episode, i don't know what else to call it.

   >> i don't either. odyssey.

   >> how much did that odyssey impact your reputation in your opinion?

   >> it's hard to say. the fanfare that it created was pretty crazy. and still exists to this day. i still hear, you know, winning and tiger blood and all that stuff. as i'm walking down the street. i think that the winning slogan was important because it gave people a chance to just feel something different, to feel victorious even if it was real or imagined. you know?

   >> and charlie had much more to say about his old show, his new projects, and what the future holds. we'll have more of matt's exclusive interview in our next half hour. but first these messages.

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