Charlie Sheen took steroids for movie role

Actor Charlie Sheen has confessed he took steroids while playing a baseball star in sports movie Major League.

The lifelong baseball fan used the film to perfect his own game and took steroids to get to grips with his pitching skills.

He tells Playboy magazine, "I wanted to put a little zip on my fastball. I didn't want to look like I was lily-arming it up there. I was always a hit-the-spots, low-zone pitcher, but my character, Ricky Vaughn, is a flamethrower. With steroids I went from a modest 78 mile-per-hour to a decent 85, which on film can be made to look in the 90s."

Sheen admits he took steroids for three months during filming, but he quickly realised there was a downside to taking performance-enhancing drugs once the movie wrapped.

He adds, "I got injured a lot afterward. Steroids build your muscles, but they don't build your tendons or ligaments. Once you start altering your body's blueprint, things start falling apart."