Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen has revealed that he is HIV positive, in a live television interview that followed weeks of intense media speculation about his condition.
“I am here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive and I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks, of sub-truths – very harmful… stories that are threatening the health of so many others,” the actor told Matt Lauer Tuesday morning on NBC’s Today show.
Sheen said that he had learned about the diagnosis for about four years and at first thought that he had a brain tumor. “It is a hard three letters to absorb,” he added.
Asked whether he had transmitted HIV to anyone since his diagnosis, Sheen said: “Impossible.” He also said he was “not entirely” aware of how he contracted the virus.
Sheen claimed that people who knew his HIV-positive status had extorted money from him to keep it a secret.
“I trusted them, they were in my inner circle and thought they could be helpful. My trust turned to their treason,” he said, adding a prostitute took a picture of his antiretroviral medication and threatened to sell it.
The former star of the sitcom Two And A Half Men said he would stop paying them now that his HIV status was public, adding: “I release myself from this prison today.”
Lauer asked Sheen why he continued to bring people including prostitutes to his home even though they were threatening him. Sheen said it was simply because he was depressed.
Sheen said that since learning that he was HIV positive, he had told all of his sexual partners about his status. He revealed that he had had unprotected sex with two people since then and that they were both under the care of his doctor.
Sheen said he is taking prescribed drugs daily (he said that he was on a “triple cocktail” of HIV medications and takes four pills a day) and despite his erratic tendencies, has never missed a day’s medication. He also said that he is no longer taking recreational drugs but admitted he still “drinks a bit”.
Sheen’s physician, Robert Huizenga, joined him during one segment of the interview saying that his daily medication has suppressed the virus so he is “absolutely healthy”. Dr. Huizenga is an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles
“Charlie has an undetectable level of the virus in his blood,” he said.
When asked to respond to rumours Sheen has Aids, Dr Huizenga said: “Charlie does not have Aids – that’s when the virus suppresses the immune system. He is healthy.”
The former Anger Management star hopes he can help others with his admission. “I have a responsibility now to better myself and to help a lot of other people,” he said. “And hopefully with what we’re doing today, others may come forward and say, ‘Thanks, Charlie. Thanks for kicking the door open.'”
