Charlie Sheen: Actor describes HIV diagnosis as a 'turning point in one's life'

Rumours about Charlie Sheen usually turn out to be true, and so it was with the newest and most shocking of all: the actor has revealed that he has been living with HIV for four years, and has spent millions of dollars to keep the diagnosis a secret. “I am, in fact, HIV-positive,” the 50-year-old told NBC’s Today. “It’s a hard three letters to absorb. It’s a turning point in one’s life.”

Mr Sheen said he did not know exactly how he contracted the virus, but that it was not as a result of needle-sharing. The star of Wall Street and Platoon, an enthusiastic user of recreational drugs, once claimed to have spent $53,000 (£35,000) on prostitutes. He learned of his condition after suffering migraines and night sweats. “I thought I had a brain tumour,” he said. “I thought it was over.”

The actor’s diagnosis had recently become an open secret in Hollywood, after the gossip site Radar.com reported that an unnamed actor was HIV positive, offering sufficient clues to all but identify Mr Sheen. This week US tabloid The National Enquirer rushed to publish its own exposé regarding Mr Sheen’s sex life and his HIV-positive status.

Mr Sheen said he decided to go public to put an end to “shakedowns”, after spending “upwards of $10m” to pay off people who threatened to reveal his diagnosis, including members of his “inner circle”. One prostitute had taken a photograph of his antiretroviral medication and threatened to sell it to the tabloids, Mr Sheen claimed, adding: “That’s money people are taking from my children.”

The actor said he had informed several family members of his diagnosis, including his most recent ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, whom he divorced in 2011. Ms Mueller said that neither she nor the couple’s twin boys were HIV-positive. Mr Sheen insisted he had always informed his sexual partners of his condition ahead of time, offering “condoms and honesty”.

Mr Sheen’s doctor, Robert Huizenga, who also appeared on Today, said the actor currently has an “undetectable level of the [HIV] virus in his blood” thanks to his daily cocktail of four antiretroviral pills. Dr Huizenga said he was impressed that Mr Sheen had managed his medication regime so effectively despite “incredible personal mayhem”.

Mr Sheen has rarely been seen on screen since his show Anger Management was cancelled last year, but said he had several film and TV projects in development. It is hard to know how the revelations will affect his career, which had already spiralled out of control in 2011 amidst tales of his lurid personal life and a public feud with Chuck Lorre, creator of the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men.

That period closely coincided with Mr Sheen’s HIV diagnosis, though the actor said that his bad behaviour was fuelled by drugs, and that the diagnosis came “on the heels of that”. As the star of Two and a Half Men, Mr Sheen was the highest paid actor on US television, reportedly earning more than $1.8m (£1.2m) per episode. He described his current financial situation as “not great”.

Not since the 1990s has a celebrity of Mr Sheen’s high profile publicly announced that they are HIV-positive, and his diagnosis draws attention to a disease that has faded from public attention since the height of the AIDS crisis. Today, some 1.2 million people in the US are estimated to be living with HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS.

The 50-year-old said the diagnosis had given him new purpose, and that he would try to use the publicity to draw attention to the condition. “I have a responsibility to better myself now and help a lot of other people,” Mr Sheen said. “I’m a survivor. I’ve been up, I’ve been down, I’ve been rich, I’ve been poor... It’s another chapter in my life but it’s not commerce driven. It’s socially driven.”