Charlie Sheen admitted using anabolic steroids in preparation for the role of the fictitious baseball player Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn in the 1989 movie “Major League”. Sheen makes the confession in Sports Illustrated’s “Where Are They Now” issue according to a report by the New York Daily News.
“Let’s just say that I was enhancing my performance a little bit,” says Sheen. “It was the only time I ever did steroids. I did them for like six or eight weeks. You can print this, I don’t give a f-. My fastball went from 79 to like 85.”
Sheen truly was a “Wild Thing” – on-screen and off – during filming. Sporting his character’s signature lighting-bolt haircut coupled with a case of ‘roid rage, it didn’t take much to set off the then-22-year old.
“I didn’t like the haircut because it generated so many comments in bars. I’ve got enough of that already,” says Sheen. “Add that to the mix, and it’s a recipe for a fistfight.”
While the rest of the baseball world was clueless about the prevalence of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 1980s, a Hollywood actor was able to figure out the utility of using a six to eight week cycle of anabolic steroids to improve his performance during his brief research for the role.
This is the first time Charlie Sheen has publicly admitted to the use of anabolic steroids. The admission comes almost 22 years after the fact.
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