More than one man could bear
Martin Sheen says he became “fanatic” when he found out his son Charlie was using drugs.
“When a life is at stake and it’s your child, you become fearless in a lot of ways. I mean, you just become fanatic,” the 67-year-old actor tells AARP The Magazine.
In May 1998, Charlie Sheen, now 42, was hospitalized for a drug overdose and then ordered into a rehab program after his father reported the overdose to the court.
“The only way I got to Charlie, frankly, was because he’d skipped out of the hospital. I had to pay the bill,” says Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlet on “The West Wing.”
“In paying the bill, I got to see why he was in there. He’d consumed an illegal substance; he was on probation. … That is what I took to the court; that’s what I took to the sheriff. It was the only way I got him.”
Sheen, who battled alcoholism himself, also turned to Alcoholics Anonymous to help his son, who stars in “Two and a Half Men.”
“I got sober through Catholicism, through my faith,” he says. “I only got involved with AA when I was trying desperately to find a way to help Charlie, because I didn’t have any skills.”
He got the girl, too
Newly crowned “American Idol” David Cook is dating “Idol” alum Kimberly Caldwell.
Cook said Tuesday on “Live With Regis and Kelly” that he recently had a dinner date with Caldwell, a contestant in Season 2.
Asked if he had a good time, Cook replied: “I did. We’ll probably hang out again.”
Cutting her off at the knees
“American Idol” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe doesn’t want Paula Abdul to pursue her latest passion – competing on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Abdul has said she’d be “honored” to appear on the show, adding: “I want to wear the pretty dresses!”
“As far as I’m concerned, Paula is ‘American Idol’ and our judge,” Lythgoe tells In Touch Weekly. “It’s like asking Simon (Cowell) to sing. Why would I want that?”
Bid-a-bing
James Gandolfini, who starred on the hit HBO series “The Sopranos,” is selling off 24 of his Tony Soprano outfits for charity, including the button-down blue shirt he wore in the opening credits and the bathrobe he donned to fetch the morning newspaper.
Proceeds from the June 25 auction at Christie’s will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group that assists severely wounded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Happy d-a-a-a-a-ay!
Downtown Milwaukee will soon have a permanent reminder of its “Happy Days.”
A bronze statue of Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, played by Henry Winkler, will be dedicated Aug. 19 along the Milwaukee River.
“Happy Days,” which was set in Milwaukee, aired on ABC from 1974 to 1984.
The birthday bunch
Actress Carroll Baker is 77. Singer Gladys Knight is 64. Singer John Fogerty is 63. Actress Sondra Locke is 61. Actor Brandon Cruz (“The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) is 46. Country singer Phil Vassar is 46. Actress Christa Miller is 44. Singer Kylie Minogue is 40. “The View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 31. Singer Colbie Caillat is 23.