Popular Hollywood star Charlie Sheen, famous for his role in the show Two and A Half Men among other shows and movies, revealed on Tuesday that he’s HIV positive. He made the statement during an interview on the “Today” show on NBC.
“It’s a hard three letters to absorb,” told Matt Lauer, of the NBC, according to Variety. “I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks, of sub-truths,” the actor said. Sheen further said that he was diagnosed with HIV about four years ago.
Sheen surprisingly acknowledged that he had unprotected sex during that time with two people, but insisted that it was “impossible” that he could have transmitted the virus to someone else.
The actor also said that he had paid “millions” to unnamed individuals who had threatened to expose his HIV-positive status.
Variety online reports,
Sheen’s ex-wife, Denise Richards, first learned about his illness a “number of years” ago, Access Hollywood reported Monday. Richards — and her two daughters with Sheen — are not infected, as the actor reportedly contracted the virus after the couple’s 2006 divorce.
Sheen, 50, had a public meltdown in 2011, which ultimately cost him his starring role on the hit CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men.” He landed on his feet, however, with his FX comedy “Anger Management.” Sheen has remained out of the spotlight after FX decided not to renew the show in late 2014 after its 100th episode.
The actor has long struggled with substance abuse and has admitted to soliciting prostitutes in the past, both of which led to several run-ins with the law. He suffered a stroke in 1998 after a cocaine overdose.