Celebrity of the Year Finalist #3: Charlie Sheen

We're down to the top three.

With the remaining days in 2011 ticking down to zero, THG has been ranking the most newsworthy celebrities of the year, starting at #10 with Lindsay Lohan and moving on, in order, to...

Jennifer Lopez; Selena Gomez; a host of viral video stars; Katy Perry; Justin Bieber; and pretty much everyone in the Royal Family. Now, at #3, we present... Charlie Sheen!

Due to a relatively quiet second half of the year, it might be easy to forget the unparalleled, unstable tear Sheen was on to kick off 2011. So here is a two-word reminder: Sheen's Korner.

The shenanigans got underway almost as soon as the calendar turned, as Charlie spent into the six figures on a Las Vegas-based sex and drug romp in January that included strippers, cocaine and plenty of headlines. He was then hospitalized a few days later after a similar party in his home.

From there... wow. Sheen was at the center of a storm truly never seen before in the annals of celebrity gossip. He was in rehab, he was out of rehab. He was fighting publicly with Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre, who eventually shut down production on that sitcom. He was collecting live-in girlfriends he referred to as "goddesses" and giving interviews in which he bragged about his capacity for cocaine and explained why Thomas Jefferson was a pussy.

The dude totally lost it. Remember all these quotes?

Incredibly, this all happened over the course of just a few weeks. Sheen was fired from the highest-rated sitcom on TV; became the fastest Twitter user to ever amass one million followers; and created the year's most overused, obnoxious, single-word catchphrase.

But the insane times could not last forever. Or even for six months.

Sheen bombed in a series of live, ridiculous performances, lost his goddesses and went about trying to revive his career. He settled a lawsuit with Warner Bros., appeared contrite in a lame, contrived Emmy speech and somehow convinced FX to give him another shot. The actor will anchor a program based on the film Anger Management in the summer of 2012.

Personally, the star is also back on track. He's supporting ex-wife Brooke Mueller's rehab efforts with his own money and spent the holidays on vacation with another ex-wife, Denise Richards. Heck, to anyone born in the last six months, Sheen would come across as a caring, responsible, drama-free father.

But to all of us who lived through his escapades in the winter/spring of 2011, Sheen put on a show unlike any we've ever seen before or will see again. It's simply shocking that the actor himself actually lived through it.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/celebrity-of-the-year-finalist-3-charlie-sheen/

cl p andy rooney andy rooney groupon ipo groupon ipo breeders cup 2011 gwar