Michael Sheen has claimed he is now a ‘not-for-profit’ actor after selling his houses on both sides of the Atlantic and giving the money raised to charity.
Writing in an article for The Big Issue, Sheen said he’d had a 'wake-up call' whilst helping to organise the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff back in 2019.
That event ran into problems when the funds that were to be used ran out, leaving them with ‘no money’ for the staging of the matches.
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So, Sheen stepped up to the mark and put his hand into his own pocket.
He wrote: “I had to make a decision – I could walk away from it, and it wouldn’t happen. I thought, I’m not going to let that happen. So, I put all my money into keeping it going.”
His commitment was so great that he sold his houses in the USA and the UK to raise the funds that were needed, an experience that he described as ‘scary and incredibly stressful’.
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The Welsh actor explained: “I’ll be paying for it for a long time.
“But when I came out the other side I realised I could do this kind of thing and, if I can keep earning money it’s not going to ruin me.
“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.”
Sheen also revealed that not so long ago, he handed back the OBE he was awarded in 2017 because he didn’t want to be seen as a ‘hypocrite’.
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He explained how he took a ‘crash course’ in Welsh history when asked to give the Learning and Work Industries yearly Raymond William Memorial Lecture in 2017.
Speaking on Owen Jones’ podcast, he said: “In my research to do that lecture, I learnt a lot about Welsh history [...] and by the time I’d finished writing that lecture on this laptop that I’m talking to you on right now.
“I remember sitting there going, ‘Well I have a choice: I either don’t give this lecture and hold on to my OBE or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE back.'”
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Sheen said that he would have become a ‘hypocrite’ if he’d kept the honour and delivered the speech on ‘the nature of the relationship between Wales and the British state, and the history of it.’
However, he did say that he ‘meant no disrespect’ in handing back the award, and said he didn’t want to ‘cause a big fuss about it’.
“I genuinely felt incredibly honoured when I was given it and it meant a lot to me and my family,” he said.
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Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: UK News, Charity, Celebrity