Just hours after police and representatives of his estranged wife turned up on his doorstep to enforce an emergency court order to remove his 23-month-old twin sons from his Los Angeles mansion, a visibly angry but surprisingly measured Charlie Sheen said that he had no idea where his children were, but vowed that he would get them back. “At this moment, on live TV, I do not know where my children are,” the actor said.
“If anybody thought my focus was directed in a radical way, that’s going to seem like child’s play,” Sheen told NBC’s Jeff Rossen in a predawn interview with his attorney, Mark Gross, at his side. “This is about getting very focused, getting in touch with what I have to do to complete the task of bringing these two beautiful young men back to the home that they deserve to be raised in.”
Court order
Sheen said he had heard reports — so far unconfirmed — that the boys had been taken to a hotel in Santa Monica. Thus far, he said, he has received no formal notification of their whereabouts from police or from Mueller’s attorneys.
“You or any other father has a right to know where your children are,” Gross told Sheen during their interview with Rossen. “The silence from Brooke’s attorneys is very conspicuous.”
Los Angeles police confirmed to NBC that they had enforced the court order, obtained by lawyers for Sheen’s estranged wife, Brooke Mueller, demanding that the children be turned over to her immediately. The boys were to have had a scheduled visitation with their mother beginning Thursday, Gross said.
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According to published reports, Mueller — who has had her own public struggles with substance abuse — not only told the court that she had concerns about the environment in the home Sheen shares with two young women he calls “the goddesses,” but also alleged that he had threatened her. TMZ reported that Sheen had told Mueller: “I will cut off your head, put it in a box and send it to your mom.”
In the live interview Wednesday Sheen called that comment “colorful,” but denied he had ever made it. “I did not. That’s a good one, I guess; I guess if you spend enough time around me, you can formulate things that could have come from my mouth. But you could do that watching reruns,” he added, referring to his sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” on which production is currently suspended.
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Sheen also insisted that his home provided a nurturing environment for the two young boys. “I invite anybody at this point to come in and just observe — a court-appointed monitor, somebody from her legal team, whether it’s her, or it’s you with a camera. There’s nothing to hide ... there’s nothing but love or compassion.
“It’s 100,000 times better than what’s going to be offered in her house,” Sheen added, referring to Mueller.
No resistance
Sheen and Gross acknowledged that there had been tensions between Mueller over issues of custody, and that he had recently rejected a request from her to be allowed to spend some time with the twins when they were scheduled to be with him. “I rejected it because I knew that unlike myself, her drug test would not be clean,” Sheen said.
But he insisted that he was caught completely by surprise late Tuesday when authorities turned up, along with what he described as some unidentified men, to demand that Max and Bob be handed over.
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“They were just being put to bed,” Sheen said, when the police called to say that they were on their way over, making no mention, he said, of removing the boys. “I thought, OK, I can deal with that ... I got my lawyer on the phone,” he said. “And then it was revealed, once I opened the door, that they were there to remove Bob and Max.”
Sheen did not put up a fight, he said. “I’m not into resisting the law, and just had to surrender to it,” the actor said, adding: “We videotaped the whole thing ... they didn’t have car seats, so I provided them and I said, ‘I love you,’ and I said, ‘Don’t say goodbye, say ‘see you later,’ and ‘later’ is going to be very soon.’ ”
Message to Mueller
Gross said he and Sheen are planning on demanding a court hearing — perhaps Thursday, perhaps within a few days after that. The first task, he said, is to determine “what the allegations are, figure out where we can get — not just Charlie’s word against Brooke’s — but also get ... independent witnesses to verify the accuracy or inaccuracy of statements.
“There isn’t even an allegation that Charlie is a danger to the children, harmed the children or threatened the children, which is why I am so surprised by the issuance of this order,” Gross added. Referring to Mueller’s attorneys, he said, “It’s unfortunate that they chose to go this route instead of communicating.”
Sheen is under a restraining order that bars him from contacting Mueller directly, but he used the interview to send her a message. Facing the camera, he said: “Brooke, I’m sorry that you felt this had to be done in this way, but this does not display any responsible parenting or anything that I’m familiar with. And I think that cooler and smarter, leveler heads can prevail, and I urge you to reach out to me immediately if not sooner and tell me where our sons are.”
In the meantime, Sheen insisted that he remains focused on getting the boys back. “This is now the challenge I claimed to be looking for, and I am more than willing to take on this task,” he said.