And Charlie also hopes that going public with his diagnosis will help to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV.
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He told host Matt Lauer,”I am here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive, I have to put a stop to this onslaught of attacks and of sub truths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are about me threatening the health of so many others that couldn’t be further from the truth”. I thought they could be helpful and instead, my trust turned to their treason’. His representatives did not immediately respond to queries on the matter.
Sheen’s physician Dr. Robert Huizenga said the actor is on medication and has an undetectable level of the virus in his blood.
Sheen’s former girlfriend Natalie Kenly, who is HIV negative, had only kind things to say about him after hearing about the rumors.
Sheen played the womanizing bachelor Charlie Harper on top-rated comedy Two and A Half Men for eight years before being fired in 2011 for bad behavior that included cocaine-fueled partying and assaulting an ex-wife.
Sheen said he doesn’t know how he contracted the disease.
He claimed he was being extorted for money by enough people “to bring it into the millions”, including a prostitute who found anti retroviral drugs in his bathroom and took a picture of them to get cash from the star.
Sheen, 50, is a Hollywood star whose resume includes such hits as “Wall Street” and “Platoon“.
Sheen’s reaction to the diagnosis four years ago: “The news was a “mule kick” to my soul”. “I was emergently hospitalized with what I believed to be a brain tumor or perhaps a few unknown pathology”.
Read Charlie Sheen’s full open letter here. It was a suicide run.
The actor said he has now put his partying days behind him.
Actor Charlie Sheen acknowledged Tuesday that he is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. “AIDS is a condition when the HIV virus markedly suppresses the immune system and you’re susceptible to rare, hard cancers and infections”. No effective cure exists, but with proper medical care it can be controlled. If not, one can develop AIDS.
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Reaction to Sheen’s announcement was largely compassionate and his name quickly become the top trending topic on Twitter. “The earlier we can diagnose a patient as being HIV positive, the less chance that patient can spread HIV to others, and the better chance that the person can start medications early and live a long, healthy life”, Rosenthal said.
