Charlie Sheen`s Divorce Drama; Pretty Women/Powerful Men
Aired November 2, 2010 - 21:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HLN HOST: Well, tonight`s the big night. Everyone in America wants to know who`s going to be voted in and who`s going to be voted out. I don`t care if you`re a Democrat or a Republican, an independent, or a Tea Partier. Get out and vote for your favorite. Our future depends on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, Charlie Sheen`s path to self-destruction continues as he files for divorce from Brooke Mueller. Why did he wait this long to break it off?
Then, Mueller is just the latest woman to be left in the dust by a celebrity husband. Joy will ask a few jilted exes how they started over after being dumped by a star.
Plus, the Quaids face felony charges. The president chats with Ryan Seacrest and Bill Maher shoots down marijuana-gate.
Joy rounds up the day`s hot topics.
That and more starting right now.
BEHAR: Charlie Sheen and his wife Brooke Mueller filed for divorce yesterday with both citing irreconcilable differences. I guess it`s hard to reconcile an escort locked in the bathroom.
Here with me to discuss this is Vikki Ziegler, divorce attorney and author of the premarital survival guide; Dr. Julie Holland, a psychiatrist and author of "Weekends at Bellevue"; and Anne Marie Cruz, editor with "People" magazine who broke the divorce story.
Before we get to you, I want to talk to Vikki about the deal that`s been struck now between him and Brooke Mueller.
VIKKI ZIEGLER, DIVORCE ATTORNEY: All right. It looks like the judgment that was filed -- it`s 36 pages -- basically gives Brooke Mueller $55,000 a month in child support for two twins, year and a half old. That nets one --
BEHAR: Until they`re 21 years old.
ZIEGLER: It said at least 18 and then it could be revisited. Number two, she walks away with $2 million. It`s comprised of a bunch of different things, part of the prenuptial agreement. There was stipulation for every year they`re married, she got some of that money. She got $250,000 which is half of the ok deal. She gets revenues from their Getty photo company that they have together, 50 percent of the revenue. She got a piece of it now. She`ll get a piece of it in the future. She`s not doing badly.
She got about --
BEHAR: She was only married to him for about a year and a half.
ZIEGLER: A year and a half. This woman is rich. She`s getting $660,000 in child support.
BEHAR: No wonder they marry him. We`re wondering why did they marry him? There you go.
ZIEGLER: Yes. Yes. Well, it`s a good question. So $50,000 in attorney`s fees; she`s getting moving costs of $45,000. So she`s walking away --
BEHAR: Where is she moving, to China?
(CROSSTALK)
ZIEGLER: I don`t know but I`ll do it.
BEHAR: Wow. But you know, $55,000 a month child support, these kids are babies.
ZIEGLER: Babies.
BEHAR: Now let me ask you about his career. Is his career going to be able to sustain itself so until these kids are 18 years old, so he can keep shelling this money out?
ANNE MARIE CRUZ, EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Absolutely. There was a spike on the ratings for "Two and a Half Men" last night. This hasn`t hurt him ever. This is just another bump in the long road of problems that Charlie has had. But professionally, it`s never affected him because his character on CBS is a bad boy. So it`s not going against that. And he always shows up on time and ready to work. So he`s on the set today. Everybody was psyched to see him. He was welcomed warmly so it`s not a problem for him.
BEHAR: Ok. Let me just show you -- tell what you he`s done so far. He accidentally shot his fiancee Kelly Preston in the leg. His ex- girlfriend claims he threatened to kill her. He OD`d after injecting cocaine, his ex-wife Denise Richards claims drug abuse and threats of violence and he allegedly held a knife to this wife Mueller`s throat last December. What does he have to do before his career suffers?
ZIEGLER: I think that viewers of the show who are fans, they just don`t factor it in. They see there`s the on screen Charlie and then the other stuff, it seems like they just ignore it.
BEHAR: Let me ask the shrink here. This guy is trouble. Is he going to kill somebody or himself before they get him off the show?
DR. JULIE HOLLAND, PSYCHIATRIST: Yes. Well, if he came to Bellevue, I think I would definitely admit him. I mean he is dangerous to himself, he`s dangerous to others. He`s the train wreck that won`t crash. He`s like the Evil Knievel of bad boys, you know? And America loves it.
ZIEGLER: This get-out-jail card free that he has is -- I mean the guy is unbelievable. You`ve just read what he`s done, he never -- there is no ramifications for this guy whatsoever. He pays all these women, third wife. No problem. And he`s walking around like hey everybody, no problem. It doesn`t make sense to me.
BEHAR: Cents for CBS.
CRUZ: He keeps throwing money is his problem.
BEHAR: He`s going to be making cents.
ZIEGLER: Well, if seriously harms somebody, then there will be a different story.
BEHAR: It`s interesting that he filed for divorce yesterday. He doesn`t want his wife talking about their marriage on her upcoming reality show. Now what do you make of that? I mean is this a bargaining chip, like if she agrees not to talk about it, he gave her this money.
ZIEGLER: In this agreement, I read that both parties can`t speak about the alleged drug abuse that they both have. And Brooke can`t speak about Charlie`s alleged sexual affairs. It`s already stated in the agreement that`s executed as of May of this year.
BEHAR: In the reality show.
ZIEGLER: Yes. In the reality show -- listen, I think it is was pre- emptive to say, listen, we have a deal. Don`t try to modify this deal. Don`t come after me and say I can`t see my children supervised. This agreement says he has a lot of visitation with his children, unsupervised. No nanny like we saw on the other case.
BEHAR: Ok. What do you think about that? These two are not exactly the --
(CROSSTALK)
ZIEGLER: Well, you know, like every good addict, he knows how to compartmentalize. He takes his kids to see "Mary Poppins" and then later that night he`s with a whore.
BEHAR: Well, they were next door. They were across the hall.
ZIEGLER: Every addict likes to up the ante and the excitement that he might get caught. And he is being extra naughty. But he doesn`t have any history of ever harming the children except living with an addict or spending time with somebody who is erratic and he gets the rage episodes, he`s been dangerous to the women in his life; so far not his children.
BEHAR: So far not his children. But you know about this. When you`re a domestic abuser -- are the children also -- do they get hit also?
HOLLAND: Not always. Not always.
BEHAR: They don`t.
CRUZ: Also, I mean, in the past, his girlfriends and ex-wives still have faith in him, like Denise Richards said, she came out here and she even said I have faith in him and Brooke Mueller said he`s a survivor, he`ll be fine. An ex-girlfriend told "People" last year when he was arrested that she thinks in his heart, she believe he wants to be a good person. It`s weird that all these women who have gone through this with him still stick by him, too.
ZIEGLER: Ok, that`s -- and that`s well and good. I think that`s accurate. However, as a divorce attorney, when you represent litigants, you don`t want to say, no problem. Hey, Charlie, pick up these babies, year and a half, they can`t speak for themselves and go on a bender. Who`s watching the children? Maybe you have a bender while they`re there. This is dangerous stuff.
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: He does have a history of this.
BEHAR: How come they allow that?
ZIEGLER: You just said it. What did you say? Cents? It`s all about money.
BEHAR: What about Child Protective Services? Won`t they be involved in any of this?
ZIEGLER: Well, you would think they`d look into it. They have the ability to do that. They don`t have a formal obligation. Nobody`s made a complaint.
CRUZ: They would step in if there is a complaint.
BEHAR: You don`t think that he`ll hurt the children?
CRUZ: It`s hard to predict. I look at his past behavior and he`s dangerous to himself. He`s dangerous to other people. He`s out of control. He keeps upping the ante, anything is possible. All I can tell you is that so far it seems like the children have been safe.
BEHAR: You know, last night on David Letterman, Robert Downey Jr. was on. And David asked him if he had any advice for Charlie Sheen because he has been in a similar situation. Watch what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DOWNEY, JR., ACTOR: He`s a grown man. I mean -- what am I going to say? You know, he`s -- the only advice I would give him is, you know, don`t get arrested.
DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Kind of amusing. But don`t get arrested because he got arrested, Robert Downey. And it basically cured him.
ZIEGLER: He`s been down that rehab path. And look what happened to his career. I believe in come backs. But it doesn`t look like Charlie Sheen walked out of rehab a few months ago and he`s still in the same kind of line.
HOLLAND: And He escaped getting arrested recently which is pretty amazing, from the Plaza. I mean nobody pressed -- the hotel didn`t press charges. The escort didn`t come forward and say --
BEHAR: Money. It`s the money again.
Let`s talk about this obsession with hookers for a minute Julie.
HOLLAND: Right.
BEHAR: What is it with -- powerful men seem to like hookers -- why do they do that?
HOLLAND: Well, I think part of it is that when you have a lot of money and you can sort of objectify or commodify (ph) sex and it becomes a commodity that you buy and you have money, you don`t have to get too involved. It can stay very superficial.
But the other thing with Charlie is it seems like -- you know, he may be a sex addict. If that`s the case, he needs to keep upping the ante. He may have certain fetishes. He`s obviously an adrenaline junkie and a thrill seeker. He may require certain things that only a professional can really gratify.
BEHAR: Now he`s back on the set of "Two and a Half Men" today. The ratings are up seven percent. I`m just saying.
CRUZ: Right. This exactly why he`s a performer for CBS. And even though there`s some eye rolling, according to a source that told "People", they don`t have control of him but it doesn`t matter, as long as he`s performing, as you said. And he`s been arrested before, it doesn`t affect him.
ZIEGLER: Teflon (INAUDIBLE). I have no idea how this guys gets away with it. I don`t think he looks like Brad Pitt. What is the allure for people? I really don`t know. That bad boy, you can`t reform him.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLLAND: America loves a bad boy.
BEHAR: The whole family is talented.
ZIEGLER: But look at Tiger Woods. Forget about it. No one can say a good thing about him.
BEHAR: That was different. He`s not doing as well since the whole scandal because that precision, I think it threw him off.
ZIEGLER: But you know, getting away way with murder, I think, is attractive to a certain population.
BEHAR: Ok. Thanks very much, ladies.
