Charlie Sheen is looking back on the 1980s years when his older brother Emilio Estevez was running with the Brat Pack—and he’s being candid about how it felt to be on the edges of that scene.
In recent comments and in a new memoir excerpt, Sheen said he often felt out of place despite being around famous friends, describing the experience as uncomfortable and motivating in equal measure.
What Sheen said about being around the Brat Pack
Speaking on Conan O’Brien’s podcast, Sheen said being around Estevez’s circle “felt awful,” adding that he sometimes felt like he was “taking up the rear” and even compared himself to “a valet on certain nights.”
He wasn’t describing hostility from the group. The point was more personal: he was physically present, but emotionally felt like a background character while others got the attention and the access that came with peak fame.
Why did it make him feel so bad
Sheen’s explanation was blunt: he was jealous of the “perks” that came with being the person everyone recognized. He described being in the same venues and social settings, yet still feeling separate from the spotlight that followed Estevez and the Brat Pack names most associated with that era.
In the People excerpt from his memoir, he revisits that period as a mix of excitement and insecurity—tagging along during their heyday, but feeling invisible beside their popularity.
The bigger context: Emilio Estevez’s fame first, Sheen’s later
Because Estevez was already established, Sheen was watching the machine of celebrity from very close range before he had his own breakthrough. That proximity seemed to sharpen the contrast: he could see what fame did to a room in real time, but didn’t yet experience it the same way.
How he says it shaped his drive
One of the most revealing parts of Sheen’s comments is that he framed those feelings as fuel. He suggested that the discomfort helped light a competitive fire—less about “becoming an actor” in the romantic sense, and more about wanting to earn the kind of career that would put him on equal footing socially and professionally.
Where he’s telling this story now
These reflections are arriving alongside Sheen’s memoir, The Book of Sheen. People’s excerpt positions the Brat Pack memories as part of a broader, personal accounting of his life and career, rather than a score-settling exercise.
