Earlier this week, Hollywood was stunned by allegations that Charlie Sheen had raped the late actor Corey Haim on the set of the 1986 film Lucas.
The reports came from The National Enquirer, but while the tabloid has a famously tenuous relationship with journalistic integrity, the Sheen exposé meshed with a number of established facts about Haim and his tragic downward spiral.
Haim’s lifelong friend and frequent co-star Corey Feldman had previously revealed in his memoir that Haim was sexually assaulted by a famous older male on the set of Lucas.
(Sheen was 19 when he made the film, Haim just 14.)
The Enquirer‘s sources on the story were former colleagues of Haim’s such as actor Dominic Brascia, a fellow actor who claimed Haim spoke openly of being molested by Sheen in the years leading up to his death at age 38:
“Haim told me he had sex with Sheen when they filmed Lucas,” Brascia told the Enquirer.
“He told me they smoked pot and had sex. He said they had anal sex. Haim said after it happened Sheen became very cold and rejected him.”
Now, however, the claims made by Brascia and several others are being disputed by Corey’s mother, Judy Haim, who says she knows with absolute certainty that Sheen was not her son’s attacker:
“My son never mentioned Charlie. We never talked about Charlie. It was all made up,” Judy tells Entertainment Tonight.
“If my son was here to hear all of this he would throw up.”
Judy adds that her son was known for his bluntness and candor, and the fact she considers the fact that he never mentioned being abused by Sheen as sufficient evidence that the assault never happened:
“I lived with [Corey] in Canada half the time. I knew exactly where this kid was at all times,” Judy tells TE. “I’m fed up … because you know what, my heart can’t take it. I’m his mother, I’m mourning. My family is freaked out all the way to Israel.”
Corey’s best friends are freaking out. They’re going, ‘What the hell is he talking about?’ They all know the truth because my son had a very big mouth,” she adds.
“Every time he had an interview he told everybody what drugs he was on, what he was doing. We’ve never heard of Charlie, ever.”
Judy goes on to address Sheen directly, assuring the actor that she is certain of his innocence:
“I will say to Charlie, ‘I don’t know you. I don’t know what people are guilty or not guilty,"” Judy says.
“‘All I know is that from my standpoint I’ve never heard my son mention anything about you. We never talked about you since Lucas. I feel bad because this is a big problem in Hollywood and all over the world.”
Judy goes on to address the ongoing problem of rampant sexual misconduct in Hollywood, saying:
“I hope it can be straightened out and I hope that the people that actually have done harm to others are going to be paying the price at the very end of the day.”
For his part, Sheen addressed the allegations through a statement from his publicist, which states that the actor “categorically denies” the allegations detailed by the Enquirer.
We will have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
