Emilio Estevez Talks About Charlie Sheen And His Family's Acceptance Of Their Heritage
Hoy In Mi Gente News: Emilio Estevez Says Charlie Sheen Doesn’t Really Talk About His Spanish Heritage
This is just shocking.
According to Martin Sheen’s proudly Latino and slightly less famous son Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen has never really been big on reppin’ for “la gente.” And he’s about the only one in their family.
A lot of people wonder if you and your family identify with your Latino roots—especially since your brother Charlie and your father Martin changed their last name to Sheen. Can you clarify who in your family identifies and who doesn’t?
Well, I think I made the strongest identification with it by never changing my name. My father didn’t ever officially change his name—it still says Ramon Estevez on his passport and driver’s license—which sometimes gets confusing when you’re going through an airport, because they don’t know you by that name {Laughs}.
I chose to stay with my family name because, first of all, Emilio Sheen looks stupid. Right? {Laughs}. And it’s just not who I am, man. And I have to tell you, the Latino community has always been very supportive of that choice and very proud of me that I chose to go with that—and honor my Latino roots. The gringos and the suits in Hollywood gave me some pressure to change it because it made their jobs more difficult to try and sell me, but I’m so proud that I didn’t. And now of course it’s very fashionable to be Latino. I guess it was a good choice back then! {Laughs}.
Was your dad happy that you didn’t change your name?
Oh yeah! He said, ‘don’t make the same mistake I made. You will regret it for the rest of your life.’ Because he does. It was probably the best advice I ever got from my father.
Do your other siblings identify with their Latino roots?
Oh yeah. My brother Ramon lived in Spain for two or three years and he speaks fluently. My son of course speaks fluently. Um, Carlos {Charlie Sheen}—you know, I don’t know. He was never Carlos growing up—he was always Charlie. So, does he connect? It’s something he and I never talk about. A lot of people don’t even know we’re brothers! On my Twitter feed, when I first started tweeting, a lot of people were saying, ‘oh my God, my mind is blown! I didn’t know Emilio and Charlie were brothers.’ But not just like infrequently—hundreds of people saying I didn’t know they were related. They think we have separate mothers. It’s funny.
What do you mean when you say “he was always Charlie, he was never Carlos?” Do you mean that he never wanted the name, Carlos?
No. He was never Carlos. No.
We would’ve never guessed.
