What Really Happened Between Charlie Sheen and 1st Wife Donna Peele?

Not much is known about Charlie Sheen’s relationship with his first wife, Donna Peele, but the actor offered rare insight into their brief marriage when writing his new memoir.

Sheen, 60, wrote in The Book of Sheen — released on Tuesday, September 9 — that he has Parliament cigarettes to thank for his past relationship with Peele. The former couple met while filming a 1994 commercial for the brand and, according to Sheen, he “became totally smitten” almost immediately.

Sheen invited Peele to stay with him in Los Angeles after their shoot, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“We spent two fabulous weeks together like a couple of teenagers on spring break,” Sheen recalled. “I could feel something different with her that I hadn’t enjoyed in quite some time.”

Sheen was quick to propose, but told Peele “we needed to give it a year,” setting the stipulation that if they were still together on his 30th birthday in September 1995, they would tie the knot. Sheen and Peele did eventually make it down the aisle — but the wedding was “mess,” according to the book. (Sheen and Peele split in 1996.)

“I kept it together during my ceremonial duties but drank way too much and crossed over into full-spectacle toward the end of the reception,” Sheen wrote. “Something about kicking all the lawn-lights, and pretending they were footballs going through the uprights as game-winners. I have zero memory of that neutral-zone infraction.”

The newly married couple had a two-part honeymoon full of “tense” and “snippy” moments, Sheen recalled. On the way to a Lake Tahoe house to finish up the vacation, Sheen “took our wedding rings and threw them out the sunroof.” His driver eventually found them.

Sheen said there were both good days and bad days in their marriage, but that the negative moments “had a way of contaminating any happiness that came before.”

“I blame myself for most of our dustups, with booze being the easiest culprit to pin it on,” Sheen wrote. “Our situation needed a villain to blame and a motive to convince the jury.”

Sheen also noted that he and Peele “didn’t spend enough time enjoying each other with the same energy” they had when they initially met.

“We had forgotten how to be friends,” he added. “When all was said and done, Donna was an angel with how she handled everything.”

The Two and a Half Men alum praised his ex-wife for “never” writing a book or giving an interview about their relationship.

“The pure class and maturity that young lady upheld spoke volumes about who she is at her core,” he concluded.