TORONTO - An eager throng of Charlie Sheen fans joined the troubled TV star Friday evening for a bipolar awareness walk before his second gig in Canada's largest city.
"You guys are awesome and this really touches my heart," he told the roughly 200 people who waited for him.
Sheen was 45 minutes late for the walk but his fans didn't seem to mind too much as they chanted, "Charlie, Charlie!" in the interim.
When he emerged to a huge cheer, the crowd gathered around the star, who was sporting a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt and happily puffing on a cigarette. He had refrained from lighting up during his Thursday night show after Ontario health officials warned him it was illegal.
"To join this walk you gotta donate a minimum of one dollar," Sheen hollered to the enthusiastic crowd.
"Donate whatever you want," he said when a fan suggested two dollars.
Sheen put out an appeal via Twitter for people to join him at 6 p.m. and walk with him to Massey Hall, where he was set to perform for a second night with Canadian comedian Russell Peters.
The throng forced police and private security to muscle him down the street to the theatre, where he was greeted by a couple hundred more fans.
Sheen indicated earlier Friday the money raised would go to the Calgary-based Organization for Bipolar Affective Disorders Society, which supports those with bipolar disorder, and promised he would match all donations.
"I know it's a disorder and not a disease, therefore it's a psychiatric opinion, which means to me it's routed in judgement," said Sheen. "Therefore we're going to take this walk and we're going to donate the money to the people who need it."
Sheen has a history of drug and alcohol problems, and last month, his erratic behaviour prompted Warner Bros. to fire him from the hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men."
When told in recent interview with ABC News that some people feel he might have bipolar disorder, Sheen said he's not bipolar but "bi-winning."
Sheen's spokesman, Larry Solters, said the walk was a spontaneous decision.
"He just came up with this on his own," Solters told The Canadian Press on Friday afternoon.
"He's trying to create awareness for bipolar and somehow he got hooked up with that organization, OBAD. ... This just came about in the last 12 hours."
Kaj Korvela, executive director of OBAD, said he was "quite taken aback" when he learned that Sheen had organized the event.
"I haven't organized anything with him or been in contact with him," Korvela said in a phone interview.
"I think that any kind of press about the awareness of bipolar disorder and the support of an agency is probably a good thing. ... If we are the recipients of donations and matching donations by Charlie Sheen, we would be more than willing to take it so that we can do our work in the community."
Sheen performed his "My Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour to mixed reviews in Toronto on Thursday night. His 21-city tour opened to brutal reviews April 2 in Detroit, and though he's since switched up the format, reaction has remained mixed.
The tour is set to hit Vancouver May 2.
Established 25 years ago as a support group for people with bipolar disorder, OBAD was registered as a non-profit organization in 1996.
Margaret Trudeau is among the celebrities who have supported the group over the years.
