Charlie Sheen Reflects on His “Cringeable” Year

"I didn't recognize parts of who that guy was," Sheen said of his past year

Charlie Sheen is determined not to let last year's "meltdown" — his word — prevent a comeback.

"I couldn't have the 'Two and a Half [Men]' thing be my television legacy. I couldn't have it end on that note," he told Matt Lauer on "Today" Thursday, before he began discussing his new sitcom "Anger Management."

"If this is gonna be the swansong, it's gotta be a beautiful experience," he insisted.

That's not to say the small screen's erstwhile loose cannon isn't admitting to and apologizing for his disastrous 2011, which saw him feuding with and fired from the hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men" amid his spiraling substance abuse problems.

"It was a little cringeable, because I didn't recognize parts of who that guy was," he confessed to Lauer, in between chuckles at his own muttered jokes.

"is it weird to have looked back and experienced what seems like an out of body experience?" Lauer asked.

"Yeah, it is! I just wish it was somebody else's body," Sheen said.

He revealed that on his first day on the set of "Anger Management," he made a speech to his castmates to defuse tensions — and defray any fears they might have of some future meltdown.

There's still work to be done, Sheen admitted.

He has no plans to quit drinking completely. "I don't believe that whole piece of fiction that they insist that you have an allegiance to," he said of the notion he should swear off alcohol.

But Sheen does plan to work through what he said might be some lingering bitterness toward Ashton Kutcher, who replaced him on "Two and a Half Men."

As for the news that Kathy Bates will play his ghost on the show? "I was honored!" Sheen said.

Check out the interview below.

 

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