The Charlie Sheen Situation Isn’t Funny

March 2, 2011 12:00 pm     Posted in Entertainment  Candy -- NYU g+ page

Like the rest of America, I sat down on my couch with a bowl of popcorn to watch the 20/20 interview with Charlie Sheen . Over the last few days, he’s become the most quotable person in the entire world. All you have to do is say tiger blood and you’ll get instant laughs. But after watching last night’s special, I’m not laughing anymore. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Charlie Sheen is mentally ill. (Just watch these clips and you’ll see what I’m talking about). And while we wrote about this on Monday, it’s gotten only more serious in the past few days.


By Candy

And it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon. He’s being enabled by his porn star goddesses, his publicist quit, and he doesn’t think he has a problem. If this was your relative, your parent, your friend, you wouldn’t be laughing. You would be scared. Because whatever is going on with Charlie Sheen is scary. While this is great entertainment for all of us sitting at home, it’s no longer a joking matter. We’re watching the unraveling of a human being happen in front of our eyes…and when something bad happens….which seems inevitable at this point, we’ll all be guilty.

Everyone who is now following him on Twitter will be guilty, everyone who ate up these interviews will be guilty, and the reporters who interviewed him for ratings will be guilty. If this was your friend who suddenly went off the deep end, you wouldn’t be egging her on, you would be uncomfortable and uneasy and you would try to figure out how you can help.

But how can we help Charlie? We’re not the big media companies, we don’t really know him, and we don’t know how to help him. And while I cheered this morning when I heard that his kids were taken away, I still felt uncomfortable knowing that he’s still not getting the help he needs.

So what can we do?

We can stop clicking on the Charlie Sheen links our friends send us, we can turn off the interviews, and we can respond to people saying “he’s crazy, lol” by responding “yes, he’s crazy, he is legitimately mentally ill, and mental illness isn’t funny.”

What do you think of about Charlie Sheen? What do you think about the way mental illness is portrayed in the media?

11 Comments on "The Charlie Sheen Situation Isn’t Funny"

  1. slp says:
    Wed, 2nd Mar 20111:21 pm 

    Thank you so much for finally seeing what's happening to Charlie Sheen in real light! He is obviously falling into severe mental illness and needs help! His attorney is sitting there as if he's totally fine. I just wish someone could step in to help him. I do know from experience however that helping someone in his state is very very difficult. We will all just have to watch him as he falls deep and it will be very sad for some of us. And yes hopefully some will feel guilty about their exploitation of his behavior and illness! Very very sad situation for him, his boys and his family!

  2. Debbie says:
    Wed, 2nd Mar 20115:34 pm 

    I'm not guilty for anything related to Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen is responsible for his behavior and for rejecting any help from concerned family and friends.

  3. Bin says:
    Wed, 2nd Mar 20116:37 pm 

    Thank you for pointing out how unbelieveably sad this situation is, not funny. My son acts a lot like Charlie when he is having a bipolar episode, and no it is not funny. Think about it, if your son or daughter was acting like this would you laugh? I hope some how he gets the help he needs and deserves, we are so screwed up when it come to helping people with MI, no one understands that the brain can get a disease just like your heart!!

  4. Candace says:
    Wed, 2nd Mar 20119:55 pm 

    Im impressed to see such a well thought out opinion! What's going on with Sheen is really sad. Thanks for pointing that out!

  5. criolle johnny says:
    Wed, 2nd Mar 201110:30 pm 

    You CHEERED when you heard his kids were taken? Did you "cheer" when Brit Spears lost her kids? Would you cheer if Tom Cruise got custody of the kids in a split?
    "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses papers and effects … "
    Don't you think that should include THEIR CHILDREN!?
    There's an unsettling trend in government shutting people up by menacing their families. I don't care for it.

  6. vegheadwhitney says:
    Thu, 3rd Mar 20111:27 pm 

    I disagree completely. I am not at all responsible for Charlie Sheen. He is a grown man who has made the choices leading him into this situation. No one is responsible or "guilty" other than Charlie himself. To suggest that viewers hold responsibility or blame is ludicrous.

  7. @CraftyVivi says:
    Thu, 3rd Mar 20114:50 pm 

    Thanks for the article. As a counselor it's almost impossible to do damage control with people who have little understanding of mental illness and addiction. I hope these people don't also blame and revel in the pain of those with cancer or epilepsy. My hat's off to you College Candy.

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