Charlie Sheen: Laugh's on Me

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/22/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Charlie Sheen won't take himself too seriously as the new star of the ABC sitcom "Spin City." That could be because he doesn't take himself too seriously off the set. "I mean," the 35-year-old actor tells Maxim magazine about his history, "if I can't laugh at it, I'm missing one of the best jokes of the day." Sheen's well-publicized past antics include his appearance in Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss's little black book, his 1997 conviction for beating a girlfriend and his hospitalization the following year, when he was ordered into rehab after his father, "The West Wing" star Martin Sheen, reported a drug overdose to a judge. As for "Spin City," in which he takes over the leading role from Michael J. Fox, Sheen said, "The show's creator came to me early on and said, 'Look, Charlie, we want to make this guy pretty colorful." Sheen's reaction? "I said, 'Let's do it,' because that gives me good opportunity to deal with my notoriety head-on."