SOURCE: DAILY NEWSCharlie Sheen and wife Brooke Mueller in happier times, two years before the Christmas 2009 attack that changed their lives.
It was only two months ago that the rakish rogue signed a two-year extension to the contract that's made him the highest-paid man on television.
Then last week came word that Emmy voters had snubbed Sheen, denying him a best-actor nomination for the first time in five years.
Perhaps Hollywood no longer sees the humor in his crowd-pleasing performance as a hard-living, skirt-chasing cad on CBS' top-rated "Two and a Half Men."
After all, the last year has seen Sheen in rehab, divorce court and criminal court as his third marriage imploded with allegations of violence, drug use and infidelity.
He was supposed to be in an Aspen, Colo., court on the domestic violence case this week, but the hearing was hastily postponed Friday. Now he's slated to return Aug. 2, giving his lawyers extra time to hash out a deal and close the latest chapter in a saga of redemption and relapse that rivals anything to come out of a movie studio.
He's been on the cover of Time magazine. He married a Bond girl. He's been a megastar in two mediums.
But with every achievement, the 44-year-old has courted personal apocalypse - almost losing everything in a spiral of porn stars, prostitutes and a near-fatal overdose.
Born to beloved actor Martin Sheen, Charlie grew up hanging out with legends Francis Ford Coppola and Marlon Brando. Sean Penn and Rob Lowe were childhood neighbors. Robert Downey Jr. was in his biology class.
He was a bad-boy prodigy, racking up teen arrests for pot and credit card forgery. He made his first movie at 17, two years after he claims to have lost his virginity to a Las Vegas hooker.
The Oscar-winning film "Platoon" launched him to superstardom, cemented with "Wall Street" and "Major League," but his wild private life soon overshadowed the success.
His then-girlfriend Kelly Preston was accidentally shot when his loaded revolver fell to the floor. He testified at Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss' 1995 trial, confessing he spent $50,000 on call girls.
He copped to beating a girlfriend in 1997 and admitted he binged on 1-1/2 pounds of cocaine a month. After he OD'd in 1998, his dad asked a Malibu judge to toss him in rehab. "The worst thing that happened was the overdose, feeling my spirit dying," Sheen later told Playboy.
His resurrection began in 2001. He replaced Michael J. Fox on the sitcom "Spin City," married ex-Bond girl Denise Richards the following year and became father to two girls.
The marriage lasted just four years. There were allegations that Sheen had threatened Richards and a nasty custody battle.
In 2008, Sheen settled down again, marrying fellow rehab refugee Brooke Mueller, who gave birth to twin sons a year later.
However, that union was to follow a familiar pattern.
On Christmas Day, Mueller called 911 after an altercation with Sheen. "My husband had me with a knife and I'm scared for my life and he threatened me," she gasped.
Six weeks later, Sheen was charged with felony menacing, third-degree assault and criminal mischief. Both he and Mueller checked into rehab and filed for divorce.
Now he's facing the possibility of jail time, with his next court date coming just a day before he's slated to resume taping his TV show - for a reported $1.8 million an episode.
His camp claims to be unfazed by the legal drama and the thumbs-down from Emmy voters.
"Charlie has been a star for the last 28 years, and we'll be hearing from him and watching him on screen for another 28 years," said "Two and a Half Men" executive producer Mark Burg, a pal.
"We're not reading into" the snub, he said. "We look at our ratings. We're the No. 1 sitcom. Clearly the general public loves the show."
