Charlie Sheen is "thrilled" he lived long enough to turn 60

Charlie - who got sober in 2017 - told The Times newspaper: "I don't know how my heart didn't just quit.

"I'm thrilled that I did - probably shouldn't have."

Charlie was touched by the struggles of Matthew Perry - who died from a ketamine overdose in 2023 - when he read the actor's memoir but the former Friends star passed away before he could get in touch with him.

He said: "I read his book, loved it and wanted to call him. And didn't. A month later, he checked out."

The Platoon actor admitted the death of anyone from addiction serves as a reminder that he could have been dead if he hadn't finally got sober.

He said: "Well, yeah, I think about that with anyone - famous or otherwise - who ODs or loses their life with drugs somewhere in the mix.

"It shouldn't require well-known people dying to keep the gratitude and the sense that those were really, really dangerous waters I was swimming in."

And Charlie is thankful he got sober before the use of fentanyl - an overdose from which 70,000 Americans a year die - became widespread.

He said: "The influx of fentanyl is something I think about a lot - Jeez, I accidentally chose the right time to put it all down."

The former Spin City actor is "convinced" he'd die if he relapsed.

He said: "I've convinced myself that the next line will stop my heart. So I'm gonna hang on to that."

Charlie's "moment of clarity" about getting sober came in 2017 when he had drunk three whisky-filled coffees by 9am and had been asked by daughter Sami, now 21, to take her to an appointment but his friend had to drive.

He said: "Something happened in that car on that day. I don't like to use a lot of the AA glossary but it's a thing that they call 'a moment of clarity'. I felt something and knew that it was time.

" "I just stopped. I said, 'I'm done,' and stuck to it."

At the height of his addiction, the Young Guns star was ordering so much cocaine that a cartel became convinced he was selling the drug on and stopped his supply.

He reflected: "Our suppliers south of the border were doing the math, and they just couldn't imagine that that kind of weight was being consumed by just a single guy."