Charlie Sheen has revealed in an interview with The Today Show’s Matt Lauer that he is HIV positive.
"I'm here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive," he said, saying that he's disclosed his status to "enough (people) that I trusted".
He revealed that he had been diagnosed "roughly 4 years ago".
How much had he paid people to keep quiet? “Enough to bring it into the millions,” Sheen admitted, after Lauer quoted him as saying he had been a "victim of betrayal and extortion".
"Have you knowingly - or even perhaps unknowingly - transmitted the HIV virus to someone else since your diagnosis?" asked Lauer. "Impossible," Sheen responded.
Sheen's doctor also appeared on the show to refute reports that Sheen had Aids. He said: "Charlie does not have Aids. Aids is a condition where the HIV virus markedly suppresses the immune system and you're susceptible to rare, difficult cancers and infections. Charlie has none of those. He is healthy."
“Are you expecting, by talking about this, to face a barrage of lawsuits?” Lauer asked, given that the Anger Management star had been "extremely sexually active" since he learned of his HIV status. “I’m sure that’s next,” was Sheen's response, in light of what he'd "already experienced".
Sheen also confirmed that his ex wives were aware of his diagnosis.
While he does not intend on being the "poster man" for the fight against HIV and Aids, Sheen said he would embrace any "responsibilities and opportunities that drive me to helping others".
He added: "If there was one guy on this planet to contract this, that’s going to deliver a cure, it’s me.”
The announcement came hours after a US tabloid named Sheen as the actor at the centre of speculation that an unnamed Hollywood star with a reputation as a wild-living womaniser has been secretly HIV positive for years. According to the National Enquirer, "decades of debauchery" have finally caught up with Sheen, who has spent much of the past year out of the public spotlight.
The publication promised to reveal later this week the findings of an 18-month investigation "that has uncovered how television’s one-time highest-paid star potentially spread the devastating virus to dozens of unsuspecting women".
"I'm here to admit that I am in fact HIV Positive." - @CharlieSheen https://t.co/OVqVMKUGET https://t.co/10Ca6WRqt4
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015
Sheen has previously refused to comment on the claims and the Enquirer said he denied them when it put them to the actor in 2014.
The star’s appearance on national TV – and on a show known for conducting sympathetic interviews – pre-empts the Enquirer’s investigation appearing on newsstands tomorrow.
Last week, further claims were made by a newspaper that said the star’s lawyers are “braced” for legal action from women he has consciously put at risk. A source told the newspaper: “The reality is that if he’s knowingly put women at risk then that’s disgusting, and it’s only a matter of time before that becomes public.”
Claims that it was an open secret in some circles that he was HIV positive were fuelled last November, when he was mentioned in the hack of confidential emails belonging to Sony Pictures. In one email, a studio executive chatted to colleagues about whether Sheen would be able to meet contractual commitments to his TV series because ‘it’s hard to be a drug addict and HIV positive and do 40 episodes a year’.
"How many people have you paid?" “Enough to bring it into the millions” – @CharlieSheen tells @MLauer https://t.co/0sJV5nAGsR
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015
In 2006, Sheen’s ex-wife, former Bond Girl Denise Richards admitted in divorce court papers that she had rushed to a clinic to test for HIV – she wasn’t infected – after learning he was seeing prostitutes during their marriage.
Sheen’s third marriage to actress Brooke Mueller lasted little more than two years, ending with her seeking a restraining order against him.
He then started living with a porn star, Bree Olson and model Natalie Kenly, who he dubbed his ‘goddesses’. His next ‘goddess’ was former Penthouse Pet of the Month Georgia Jones, and then Sheen briefly became engaged to another porn star, Brett Rossi.
IOL and Daily Mail