Martin Sheen Credits His Wife For Helping Him Make it to His 83rd Birthday
Actor Martin Sheen recently celebrated his 83rd birthday on August 3, 2023. Born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez, he’s known professionally as Martin Sheen and has had a successful acting career for over six decades. He’s best known for his role as Captain Benjamin Willard in the 1979 Francis Ford Coppola film Apocalypse Now and his role as President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing. Over the years, Sheen has faced several health issues that led him to wonder if he would continue on. However, his longtime wife, Janet, helped him many times and through many struggles.
Universal/Everett Collection
The pair got married on December 23, 1961, and have been together ever since. They have three sons and one daughter, many of whom have followed in their parent’s footsteps to start an acting career including Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen (Charlie decided to take his surname from his father’s stage name). These days, the Sheens have a large family including ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, which initially shocked Sheen. He once shared that he was born when his own father was 43, and it was the same age that he became a grandfather.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Sheen feels blessed to be able to see his kids and grandkids grow up because it wasn’t always a sure thing. He suffered a heart attack during the production of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines. He said, “My wife, Janet, was running down the corridor, and I was on a gurney being wheeled in, and I looked up and saw her face. She leaned down and whispered, ‘It’s only a movie, babe. Please, it’s only a movie!’”
Saeed Adyani/Netflix/Everett Collection
Many years later, Sheen suffered another health scare and had to endure a quadruple-bypass heart surgery in December 2015. He said it was “very serious” but Janet was there every step of the way. Sheen seems to be doing well these days and is still working. He’s recently been seen in the popular Netflix series Grace & Frankie and has one new project in the works right now. Happy birthday, Martin!
