Michael Sheen.Photo: Dominik Bindl/Getty Images
Michael Sheenis committed to giving back through his work.
Sheen explained what he meant: “I had committed to helping to organize [2019’s Homeless World Cup in Cardiff] and then suddenly, with not long to go, there was no money. I had to make a decision: I could walk away from it and it wouldn’t happen. And all those people from all around the world who were banking on coming to have this extraordinary experience, maybe a life-changing experience, wouldn’t have it. I thought, ‘I’m not going to let that happen.’ "
“So I put all my money into keeping it going,” he continued. “I had a house in America and a house here and I put those up and just did whatever it took.”
He said the financial move was “scary and incredibly stressful” and that he will “be paying for it for a long time,” but he doesn’t regret anything.
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“When I came out the other side I realized I could do this kind of thing and, if I can keep earning money, it’s not going to ruin me,” said Sheen, who shares daughters Lily, 22, with ex Kate Beckinsale andLyra, 2, with Anna Lundberg.
“There was something quite liberating about going, ‘Alright, I’ll put large amounts of money into this or that, because I’ll be able to earn it back again.’ I’ve essentially turned myself into a social enterprise, a not-for-profit actor,” he said.
According toThe Guardian, Sheen’s social work includes helping to set up the End High Cost Credit Alliance in 2017 to help people find more affordable ways of borrowing money. And he recently pledged £50,000 over five years to fund a bursary to help Welsh students go to Oxford University.
Sheen told the magazine that he wants to “be one of those people who help other people the way so many people helped me.”
“I don’t want to just be someone who enjoys the fruits of what other people have done and then pull the drawbridge up and go, ‘Well, I’m alright Jack, I’ve had a nice time.’ I’m at the stage of my life and career where I have a window of opportunity that will probably never be this good again,” he said. “I’m able to get people in a room; I can open doors. I don’t want to look back and think, ‘I could have done something with that platform. I could have done something with that money.’ "
source: people.com
