Charlie Sheen Says Sex With Men Aligns Him With Richard Pryor, Marlon Brando

Charlie Sheen’s dropping another bombshell ... saying he recently came clean about having sex with men in a bid to set the record straight and silence the rumors -- and extortion -- that chased him for years.

In a new interview, Charlie said he was done hiding and realized owning up to hooking up with men isn't such a bad thing ... after all, it puts him in the same league as icons Richard Pryor and Marlon Brando, who were both openly bisexual.

Charlie told The Times of London that’s some pretty great company to be in ... before getting real about what it felt like hiding parts of himself, always worrying about the next phone call or knock at the door.

He admitted the one thing he’d never faced was what happens once the truth is actually out there -- which is why, in his recent Netflix doc and memoir, he finally dished that after years of bedding women, he also started sleeping with men.