Actor Charlie Sheen escalated his recent rants against his former Two and a Half Men employers, demanding a pay raise and threatening a lawsuit in two TV interviews that caused his spokesman to quit.
Sheen, whose erratic behavior has put the future of his top-rated TV comedy in jeopardy, boasted to morning chat shows about his partying lifestyle and said he was tired of pretending he is not "a total frigging rock star from Mars."
Hours later, his long time Los Angeles publicist quit working for the actor, saying he could no longer do his job.
"I have worked with Charlie Sheen for a long time and I care about him very much. However, at this time, I'm unable to work effectively as his publicist and have respectfully resigned," Stan Rosenfield said in a statement.
Mr Rosenfield has remained publicly silent in recent days in the face of Sheen's self-propelled media onslaught. His resignation today echoed the dropping of actor Mel Gibson by his Hollywood agent last July in the midst of damaging leaked telephone tirades that included racist and sexist slurs by the actor toward his ex-girlfriend.
Sheen, the highest paid actor on US television, launched several expletive-filled rants last week against the show's creator, Chuck Lorre, causing TV network CBS and the show's makers, Warner Bros. Television, to cancel production of Two and A Half Men for the rest of the season.
Today, Sheen told ABC news in an interview aired on Good Morning America that he would defend himself through "violent hatred" aimed at him, and he felt let down the show was stopped.
"I was actually disappointed," Sheen said. "People misinterpret my passion for anger."
Asked if he would sue, he said: "Wouldn't you? I don't have a job. I have a whole family to support and love ... I am here to collect and they are going to lose."
He said his attack on producer Lorre, which some suggested had anti-Semitic overtones, had been misinterpreted.
"I feel terrible about it," he said before addressing Mr Lorre directly. "I just thought, you know, after you wailing on me for eight years, that I could, like, take a few shots back."
Warner Bros said it had no comment on Sheen's latest remarks. CBS was silent.
Speculation has been rife about the future of Two and A Half Men would continue next season, with our without Sheen's leading role as a womanizing bachelor - a part that seems to mimick the actor in real life.
He told NBC's Today show today that returning would require a pay rise, saying the roughly $2 million per episode he makes now is too low. "I am a man of my word, so I will finish the TV show. I'll even do Season 10, but at this point, (because of) psychological distress, oh my God, it's 3 mil an episode. Take it or leave it," he said.
"I'm tired of pretending like I'm not special," Sheen added. "You can't process me with a normal brain."
Production of Two and a Half Men was first suspended in January when Sheen (45) was persuaded to seek help after a 36-hour cocaine-fueled party at his home.
ABC News and celebrity website Radaronline had Sheen's blood and urine tested, and revealed no drugs in his system for the past 72 hours.
"I am on a drug. It's called Charlie Sheen. It's not available because if you try it once, you will die," he said in the ABC interview.
The last time he took drugs, which he estimated to be about a month to six weeks ago, Sheen said he was "banging seven gram rocks and finishing them because that is how I roll."
He was now bored with drugs, he said, but boasted about his old partying ways. "The run I was on made Sinatra, Flynn, Jagger, Richards, all of them just look like droopy-eyed armless children."
Reuters