Charlie Sheen broke the news recently with a very “revealing personal announcement.” The actor told NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday that he was diagnosed as HIV-positive about four years ago, and that a few people who knew it demanded money from him to keep the secret.
I’m here to admit that I am in fact HIV-positive,” Sheen told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “And I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are about the [alleged] threatening the health of so many others, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
Sheen, 50, said he is not sure how he contracted the virus. Since his diagnosis, he said, he has informed every sexual partner of his condition. He called it “impossible” that he had transmitted the virus to others.
He said the diagnosis came after he suffered a series of cluster headaches and night sweats.
“After a battery of tests … they walked in the room and said, ‘Boom, here’s what’s going on,'” Sheen said.
“It’s a hard three letters to absorb. It’s a turning point in one’s life,” he continued.
His ex-wives are Brooke Mueller and Denise Richards. During the NBC interview he said his ex-wives and an older child are aware of his illness.