Charlie Sheen revealed he is HIV positive Tuesday during a painful sitdown interview with TODAY host Matt Lauer.
“It’s a hard three letters to absorb. It’s a turning point in one’s life,” the 50-year-old actor said.
Sheen said he finally the announcement himself to stop extortion attempts.
“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 me, that threaten the health of so many others that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
Sheen said he was diagnosed roughly four years ago but doesn’t know how he contracted it.”It started with what I thought was a series of crushing headaches,” he said. “I thought I had a brain tumor. I thought it was over.”
He also insisted it was “impossible” that he knowingly transmitted the virus to others. While he admitted he has had unprotected sex with two people since the diagnosis, both were informed ahead of time and have been under the care of his doctor.
Sheen reportedly had stated that he was HIV free because the disease was undetectable.