Charlie Sheen Confirms He’s HIV-Positive
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(NEW YORK) — As expected, Charlie Sheen confirmed Tuesday morning that he’s HIV-positive.
Describing it as “a hard three letters to absorb,” the former Anger Management and Two and a Half Menstar told NBC’s Today show he was diagnosed about four years ago, and was going public with the news now in part because “I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks, of sub-truths,” apparently referring to rumors regarding his health.
Publicist Howard Bragman confirmed to ABC Radio Monday a People magazine report saying sources told him Sheen has the auto-immune disease and is currently in treatment. “It’s been going on for quite a while,” Bragman said in the magazine. “He’s not necessarily comfortable talking about it. It was very hard to get up the courage for him to talk about it.”
Sheen, who’s 50, said Tuesday there’s another reason he’s publicly confirming he has the disease, revealing he’d paid “millions” to parties he didn’t name, calling the payments “shakedowns” and saying those parties threatened to go public with his HIV-positive diagnosis if he didn’t pay. When asked if he was still paying the hush money, Sheen replied, “Not after today, I’m not,” adding, “I think I release myself from this prison today.”
Sheen of course made headlines in recent years with his erratic behavior, and has admitted to both soliciting prostitutes and abusing drugs. His behavior famously got him fired from Two and a Half Men in March of 2011, which in turn led to a year of even more erratic public behavior, which included posting long, rambling Internet videos and declarations he had “tiger blood” and was “winning.” He also embarked on a brief, equally disjointed tour dubbed the “Violent Torpedo of Truth.”
In spring 2012, Sheen appeared to pull his act together and returned to TV as star of the FX comedy series Anger Management, which aired until December 2014.
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