Actor Charlie Sheen.
The Charlie Sheen feeding frenzy continues unabated. His legion of 2.8-million Twitter followers (okay, okay, I am among the devoted) hangs on his every tweet and the world waits breathlessly for the next move in the Charlie versus Chuck Lorre show split.
Not since Lindsay Lohan have we witnessed anything so over-the-top crazy: Porn star and nanny "goddesses", tiger blood, trashed hotel rooms, drug-addled meltdowns, hospital and rehab trips, custody battles, angry ex-wives and a messy, vitriolic split from his hit TV sitcom. Winning? We're not so sure.
Everyone and anyone wants in on the action. But what does all this have to do with cars, you ask.
Well, it turns out our troubled Hollywood bad boy loves cars. He's a huge collector and, according to GQ magazine, Good Time Charlie spent more than $1 million on new cars - Mercedes-Benz is his preferred drive - during his first week in rehab earlier this year. That'll cure what ails you.
But he also buys cars for others. Access Hollywood reports that Sheen bought four cars in the past month and gave them all away as gifts:
- A $320,000 (all figures U.S.) Bentley for an adult film star
- A $150,000 Porsche Turbo for a different porn star
- A $160,000 Mercedes-Benz S63 for a rumoured new gal pal
- A $160,000 Mercedes-Benz CL 600 for estranged wife Brooke Mueller. The grand total? $790,000.
Sheen's cars also get trashed. These following two odd coincidences seem so long ago considering all that has unravelled in the Sheen universe recently but Charlie's track record with his luxury rides is somewhat unfortunate:
1. Feb. 5, 2010: Sheen calls police at 5:15 a.m. to report a possible burglar on the premises of his home. Shortly thereafter, his 2009 Mercedes-Benz four-door sedan is found 400 feet down a ravine off of Mulholland Drive. It's not clear why the burglars plunged the car over a cliff but it certainly wasn't too difficult for them steal it - it was parked in Sheen's open garage with the keys inside. Another car, a 2009 silver Bentley, is found at the side of the road, 200 yards from Sheen's ride. The Bentley had been stolen from a nearby neighbourhood.
2. June 14, 2010: For the second time in the year, Sheen's car is stolen and driven off the same block of Mulholland Drive. Police are notified around 3 a.m. that a car had been driven off a cliff. Firefighters find Sheen's silver 2010 Mercedes-Benz at the foot of the cliff. Not surprisingly, there is no driver to be found. Sheen says he wasn't aware that his vehicle was missing and that he had last seen it in his driveway 11 hours earlier.
Darren McGee