Loving addicts like Charlie Sheen

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

In my early 20s, I came to appreciate what it means to fall head over heels. He was erudite, aloof and utterly unattainable. Or so I thought. When he finally looked my way, my heart literally skipped a beat. But my good sense ran a mile.

The cracks began to appear not long after we started dating. I tried desperately to maintain the façade. After all, we were would-be actors and poets. Artistes, if you don’t mind. Conflict and drama were par for the creative cause.

What I didn’t know was the tawdry life he had been building for himself away from our little hub. He had resumed an old love affair — with heroin.

This erstwhile episode returned to me last week as I sat glued to the unravelling of US television actor Charlie Sheen, which came to a head yesterday with the actor’s sacking from the high-rating sitcom Two and A Half Men.

But it wasn’t the actor’s meltdown, as much as the drama being played off stage by his close friends and family, that had me compelled.

Theirs is the story of making mistakes, underestimating the power of addiction and loving too easily, if not judiciously. A drama with no script or guarantee of a happy ending, but with all the sorry hallmarks of a sequel. Read the complete article at Eureka Street