How Charlie Sheen and Two and a Half Men Co-Creator Chuck Lorre Ended Their Yearslong Feud

More than 10 years after Charlie Sheen was infamously fired from Two and a Half Men, the CBS comedy's co-creator Chuck Lorre revealed how the two made amends during a "healing" reconciliation.

By Gabrielle Chung Nov 03, 2023 2:56 AMTags
Watch: Chuck Lorre Talks "Men" & "Big Bang"

These two men are friends again.

That is Charlie Sheen and Chuck Lorre, who fell out back in 2011 when the Two and a Half Men star went on a profanity-laced tirade against the series' co-creator and was ultimately fired from the CBS comedy.

Now, more than a decade later, Lorre said he's "gotten to this place where it's old news" and the two have quashed their beef, with Sheen even getting cast as a heightened version of himself in the showrunner's new Max show Bookie before the SAG-AFTRA strike.

"I loved working with Charlie on Two and a Half Men," Lorre told Variety in a Nov. 1 interview. "We did 170 episodes together before it all fell apart. And more often than not, we had a good time."

According to the 71-year-old, he reached out to Sheen's rep after "assuming he's in a good place" and was ready to let bygones be bygones. As it turned out, Lorre's hunch was right and the actor felt the same way.

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"I was nervous, but almost as soon as we started talking, I remembered, we were friends once," Lorre recalled. "And that friendship just suddenly seemed to be there again. I don't want to be too mawkish about it, but it was healing. And he was also totally game to make fun of himself. When he came to the table read of that episode, I walked up, and we hugged. It was just great."

And not only did they make amends, but Lorre said Sheen, 58, "proceeded to kill it" during the script reading.

"His chops were just so finely tuned," the producer shared of Sheen, who Variety said was unable to speak on his reconciliation with Lorre due to the ongoing strike, "as if we had not missed a beat."

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

E! News has reached out to Sheen's rep for comment but has not heard back. However, the Anger Management alum has been open about his regret in how he behaved toward Lorre amid their public feud.

"My thought behind that is, 'Oh, yeah, great. I'm so glad that I traded early retirement for a f--king hashtag,'" he told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2021, acknowledging that his infamous "#winning" actions at the time were "desperately juvenile."

"There was 55 different ways for me to handle that situation, and I chose number 56," he said. "I think it was drugs or the residual effects of drugs…and it was also an ocean of stress and a volcano of disdain. It was all self-generated."

Sheen added, "I was getting loaded and my brain wasn't working right."

To find out what the rest of the Two and a Half Men cast has been up to since the show went off the air in 2015, keep reading.

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen was one of the original "men" in Two and a Half Men, playing Charlie Harper in the first eight seasons of the CBS sitcom opposite Jon Cryer as his on-screen brother. Sheen entered drug treatment and the eighth season was cut short. 

He famously clashed with executive producer Chuck Lorre in the press and social media, resulting in his dismissal from the series (and the coinage of the phrases "winning" and "tiger's blood"). His character was killed off and later played as a ghost by Kathy Bates.

After exiting Two and a Half Men, Sheen booked the TV version of Anger Management, which aired from 2012 to 2014 and produced 100 episodes over two seasons. Since, Sheen popped up on The Goldbergs and on the big screen was in Scary Movie 5, Machete Kills and 9/11.

The dad of five came out as HIV positive in 2015.

In 2023, he made a cameo as himself on Lorre's Max series Bookies.

Jon Cryer

Jon Cryer starred in all 12 seasons of Two and a Half Men as divorcee Alan Harper, brother to Charlie, father to Jake and friend to Walden.

Cryer released a book about his career in show business and has popped up on Mom, The Ranch, NCIS, Robot Chicken and Lady Dynamite among others.

Angus T. Jones

Angus T. Jones played the "half man" in Two and a Half Men, Jake, Alan Harper's son. He became the highest paid child actor on TV at age 17, but then voiced his desire to leave the series after forging down a religious path in real life. Jones eventually left the series, but returned for the series finale in 2015.

Jones attended University of Colorado Boulder after leaving the sitcom and eventually joined and entertainment company with Sean Combs' son, Justin Combs

While he stepped away from acting after Two and a Half Men, in 2023, he made a cameo as himself on creator Chuck Lorre's Max series Bookies.

Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher joined Two and a Half Men in season nine after Sheen's famous exit and stayed through the end of the series. He played billionaire Walter Schmidt and his character purchased Charlie Harper's house following the character's death.

Since the end of Men in 2012, Kutcher voiced himself on Family Guy, appeared on Shark Tank and jumped to Netflix as an executive producer and star of The Ranch. He also reprised his That '70s Show role in the recent That '90s Show. He married Mila Kunis in July 2015. The two have two kids, daughter Wyatt and son Dimitri.

Conchata Ferrell

Conchata Ferrell popped up in supporting roles throughout her career, including Erin Brockovich, Network, L.A. Law and E/R (not to be confused with ER). On Two and a Half Men, she played Berta, the housekeeper, and received two Emmy nominations for her work on the CBS sitcom.

After Men ended, Ferrell appeared in Krampus, Grace and Frankie and reunited with Kutcher on The Ranch. She died in October 2020 at 77 years old

Marin Hinkle

Marin Hinkle played Alan's ex-wife, Judith, on Two and a Half Men.

After the show ended, she appeared in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle on the big screen, and on The Affair, Red Band Society, Madam Secretary, Homeland and Speechless on the small screen. She also starred in Amazon's Emmy-winning series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Melanie Lynskey

Melanie Lynskey is best known to Two and a Half Men fans as Rose, the strange next door neighbor of the Harpers. She had a relationship with Charlie, and she later claimed he died in season nine. In the finale, it was revealed she kept him prisoner for four years.

Lynskey is quite active on the big screen, with roles in Sadie, Little Boxes and The Changeover. On TV, she appeared in Girlboss, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, Summer Camp IslandCastle Rock and, most recently, Showtime's Yellowjackets.

Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn joined the cast for seasons 11 and 12 as Jenny, Charlie's long-lost illegitimate daughter.

In 2016, she directed and co-wrote Paint It Black and since the CBS comedy ended, she appeared on Community, Comedy Bang! Bang!, Lip Sync Battle and Drunk History.

Holland Taylor

Holland Taylor starred in all 12 seasons of Two and a Half Men as Evelyn, Alan and Charlie's mother.

Taylor has been quite active since Men ended, appearing in Mr. Mercedes, The Orville, Speechless and Good Behavior.

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