Charlie Sheen has said he is ready to fight to get his twin boys back after their mother got a court order against him.

The Two-And-A-Half-Men actor’s 23-month-old boys were taken from his home after estranged wife Brooke Mueller Sheen claimed that he threatened her, adding a nasty custody battle to the actor’s bitter war with the studio and producers who shut down the hit CBS show short of the season’s end.

Her claims followed days of media interviews by Mr Sheen, part of a public campaign to disprove that he is a drug-using, reckless playboy who was unable or unfit to work on US TV’s number one comedy.

In an interview with NBC’s Today show, Mr Sheen said he was “very calm and focused” about having the children taken away but was ready to fight to get them back.

Outside his home a short time later, the 45-year-old star was asked by reporters whether the legal move came out of left field for him. “It came out of the bleachers, actually,” he said. “Yeah, I was told a restraining order was being delivered and I thought, ‘OK, I can deal with that.’ And it was revealed that it was something much more serious.

Asked why Brooke got the court order, he replied: “It’s just silly. I think she’s latching on to some of this recent press.”