Charlie Sheen Wrote About Chris Pen ‘Out of Love’ for Sean Penn

Charlie Sheen is looking back at influential relationships in his life.

Speaking with David Duchovny at an event for his new memoir, The Book of Sheen, at the 92nd Street Y in New York on Sept. 8, Sheen, 60, spoke about his early childhood in Malibu with friends and actors Sean and Chris Penn, with whom he made short films.

“We just found it as a way to just kind of emulate, mimic, copy what our parents were doing,” Sheen, the son of actors Martin and Janet Sheen, explained to Duchovny. “The two houses that it kind of bounced between — Casa Penn and our place — is really where that all happened.”

Sheen joked that he “couldn’t believe how bad” these early homemade movies were (many clips will appear publicly for the first time in Sheen’s new Netflix documentary aka Charlie Sheen).

“We never really had the resources to do substantial productions,” the actor said. “We were reliant on whatever Dad would kick in or what the Penn parents, [actress] Eileen and [director] Leo, what they would kick in … Basically our prop department was blank guns, blanks and blood.”

Sheen also spoke about the importance of paying tribute to those early days — and his friendship with Chris, who died in 2006 — in the book.

“A lot of that was written out of love for Sean,” Sheen said. “I wanted Sean to really read how much his brother meant to me. And I was tempted to go to Sean and read him stuff as I was creating it. And I was like, no man, that’s probably not how Chris would’ve handled it. He would’ve walked in and just [said], ‘Here it is.’”

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The Book of Sheen covers the actor’s early years, before he began his Hollywood career, which includes roles in films like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Apocalypse Now, and sitcoms like Two and a Half Men and Spin City.

“Writing the book was the most challenging job I’ve ever had,” Sheen said at the event. “And hands down the most rewarding one.”

Sheen, now eight years sober, also recounts his struggle with addiction in the memoir, along with his path forward. 

“I still get what I call the ‘shame shivers.’ These are the moments that hit me, of the heinous memories and choices and consequences,” the actor told PEOPLE for a recent cover story. “They’re getting farther in between, so I guess that’s progress. What has been interesting about making amends is that most people have been like, ‘Hey yeah, we’re good man, but we hope you’ve also forgiven yourself.’”

Sheen also noted that releasing his memoir and documentary wasn’t about “setting the record straight or righting all the wrongs of his past.

“Most of my 50s were spent apologizing to the people I hurt,” he continued. “I also didn’t want to write from the place of being a victim. I wasn’t, and I own everything I did. It’s just me, finally telling the stories in the way they actually happened.”

The Book of Sheen is now available, wherever books are sold.