NEW YORK // Actor Charlie Sheen on Tuesday revealed he has been HIV-positive for the past four years.
And the former star of the hit US television comedy Two and A Half Men said he had paid out more than US$10 million (Dh36.7m) to keep news of his HIV quiet.
Sheen, 50, told NBC's Today show he was speaking out because he was being blackmailed, and to refute reports that he had Aids and was spreading it to other people.
“I am here to admit that I am in fact HIV-positive,” he said, adding he was “not entirely sure” how he caught the virus. “It started with what I thought was a series of crushing headaches.
“I thought I had a brain tumour. I thought it was over.”
“I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of subtruths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are about me, that threaten the health of so many others, that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Sheen's doctor, Robert Huizenga, also appeared on the Today show and said that the actor "does not have Aids".
Sheen, who has been divorced three times, played womanising bachelor Charlie Harper on the top-rating series for eight years.
He was fired in 2011 for bad behaviour that included cocaine-fuelled parties with porn stars and a conviction for assaulting his ex-wife.
At the time, he was the highest-paid actor on US, television, with a reported salary of about $1.8m an episode.
Asked if he had transmitted HIV to anyone since it was diagnosed, Sheen said it was “impossible”. He said he had told his former wives immediately after the diagnosis.
The actor said he had always been honest about his condition.
Sheen acknowledged he had paid people “upwards of $10m” in recent years for their silence about his condition but would no longer do so.
“I think I released myself from this prison today,” he said.
After being fired from Two and A Half Men, Sheen set up home with porn stars he called "goddesses" and boasted on YouTube of having "tiger blood" in his veins.
The son of veteran actor Martin Sheen, he said he did not feel any stigma from being HIV positive, a condition that affected more than 1.2 million people in the US, government statistics showed.
HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, weakens the immune system by destroying cells that fight disease and infection. There is no effective cure but with proper medical care it can be controlled. If not, it can lead to Aids.
“I have a responsibility now to better myself and help a lot of other people. Others may come forward and say, ‘Thanks Charlie. Thanks for kicking the door open’,” Sheen said.
Reaction on social media to his announcement was largely compassionate.
“Total respect to Charlie Sheen opening up about his HIV-positive status. May your strength be repaid and know people really do care,” tweeted Brett Herriot immediately after the interview.
Another Twitter posting said: “I don’t condone Charlie Sheen’s recklessness, but the headlines and jokes about it show just how little society has progressed. It’s sad.”
Sheen also starred in 1980s movies Platoon and Wall Street, and the 2012 to 2014 cable-TV comedy Anger Management, which was closely based on his life.
He has five children from his marriages to model Donna Peele, actresses Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller, and other relationships.
* Reuters
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