John Cryer Reveals Details About Charlie Sheen's Public Meltdown In New Book, 'So That Happened'

In addition to wrapping up the show with a nice little bow, the “Two and a Half Men” series finale reignited the public’s obsession with former lead Charlie Sheen’s very public 2010 meltdown. Now, co-star John Cryer is revealing his side of the story in a new tell-all book.

The series finale put Sheen’s character front and center as it focused almost entirely on whether or not the character was actually dead – as the writers had claimed in 2011 to explain Sheen’s abrupt exit. The Feb. 19 episode even ended with the real-life actor’s now signature catchphrase, “winning,” being uttered by the show’s creator Chuck Lorre. With the series being as obsessed as it ever was with Sheen, many have been thirsty for details about the actor’s departure from “Two and a Half Men.”

The Hollywood Reporter published an excerpt from Cryer’s upcoming book “So That Happened,” due out on April 7. In it, the sitcom star outlines his experience on the set of the show during his co-star’s highly publicized exit. The first touchstone for Cryer’s involvement in the saga began on Christmas of 2009. He’d been avoiding the Internet while celebrating the holiday with his family when he finally heard the news. Sheen had been arrested for spousal battery of his wife, Brooke Mueller. From there it was a downhill spiral as the 49-year-old actor began to notice his co-star slipping off the sobriety wagon.

“It seemed pretty clear my friend and colleague wasn't sober anymore,” Cryer writes. “We exchanged 'Merry Xmas' texts, though mine had a question mark, to which Charlie texted back, ‘I'll take it!’”

After that, there it was a terrible back and forth as Sheen began to slip. Going into the show’s eighth season, Cryer said the writing was already on the wall.

“Gaunt, pale, sallow, even sweaty occasionally. He started talking to himself. Most of all he just looked thinner, in a not-good way,” he described. “His timing started to go off, too. He was rushing lines. Charlie just wasn't hitting the jokes the way he used to.”

In the end, Sheen skipping a meeting with Warner Bros. executives Bruce Rosenblum and Peter Roth was the final nail in his character’s coffin (so to speak). The excerpt form the book covers more details about Sheen’s time off the wagon including his disastrous “Violent Torpedo of Truth” live tour all from the perspective of his “Men” partner and friend.

You can read the full excerpt here, via THR, or wait until April 7 to also get a dose of the former “Pretty in Pink” star’s life leading up to and through the finale of “Two and a Half Men.”