After much speculation (which we found a bit odd considering the subject matter), Charlie Sheen has confirmed reports that he is, in fact, HIV positive.
The former Two and a Half Men star appeared on the Today Show to “put an end to the barrage of attacks” that he’s seen in tabloids and other media outlets.
“It’s a hard three letters to absorb,” he said, adding that his diagnosis four years ago was a “turning point” in his life.
He also told Matt Lauer that he’s paid millions of dollars over the last few years to blackmailers who’ve threatened to reveal his status, saying “that’s money they’re taking from my children.”
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“I always led with condoms and honesty when it came to my condition,” he added.
You can see clips of the interview below:
“I’m here to admit that I am in fact HIV Positive.” –@CharlieSheen https://t.co/OVqVMKUGET https://t.co/10Ca6WRqt4
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015
When did @CharlieSheen learn about his HIV Positive diagnosis? “About 4 years ago” https://t.co/atJgbHV1X3
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015
“How many people have you paid?” “Enough to bring it into the millions” –@CharlieSheen tells @MLauer https://t.co/0sJV5nAGsR — TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015
Has @CharlieSheen knowingly or unknowingly transmitted virus since diagnosis? “Impossible” https://t.co/XTC2zvqcBD — TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015
Sheen has stayed largely out of the press since his FX show Anger Management was canceled last year.
His dismissal from Two and a Half Men in 2011 for repeatedly disrupting production due to drug and alcohol abuse infamously played out in the press alongside his falling-out with the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre.
h/t Attitude
Giancarlo85
Truly a train wreck. And really has a lot of problems. I think anyone who has been with him in the last decade need to get tested regardless.
DDstar1me
Jesus…this guy is truly a whore. I just got tested in july but I may have to get another test before the year end just incase I may have slept with him. lol!
ps.@Giancarlo85 …Hey sugar lips. Wink!
jdboston617
I’m glad he came forward and I empathize with him. In a sense he is experiencing what many people in the LGBT community face every day. Not just an HIV status, per se, but having to hide in dark then later having to “come out” as yourself, but again facing hardcore, vulgar opinions and backlash from strangers because of a status or sexuality.
Be well and free.
moldisdelicious
Well, to be fair, he aint the only one. He just came out about it. If you have sex and have multiple sex patterns, you can’t really clown him. Too many reckless people out here and sadly on the gay side of things, it’s quite serious.
moldisdelicious
@moldisdelicious: partners.
People yap about slut shaming until they get sick.
Glücklich
Can’t think of anyone who’s recently screwed the pooch more royally than Charlie Sheen.
scotshot
@Giancarlo85:
Trainwreck is right. There’s really nothing else to say. Sad situation. The circus begins.
Masc Pride
I think Charlie Sheen will be to poz people what Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner is to trans people. From what I’ve read, this circus is really just starting.
SteveDenver
Do some of the condescending commenters on this thread think Sheen “deserves” HIV?
SteveDenver
@Glücklich: Are you implying that Sheen is a screw-up and somehow deserves HIV? If so, you have no clue how HIV works.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
How is it that he’s been treated by a HIV specialist for 5/6 yrs
..but known he’s had HIV for only 4 yrs
Kangol
On top of everything else, he’s a r@cist creep. When he had his drug-induced breakdown in that NYC hotel several years ago, he started screaming “N*gg**” over and over.
WHY?
What did black people ever do this lying narcissistic, cracked out wh0re monster Charlie Sheen?
I don’t care about his sex life or if he’s POZ or not (though I’m glad he’s stopped publicly lying), but I do care about people who lash out in a r@cist fashion.
He can go straight to the deepest pit in h3ll.
CWM85
He’s a POS. Not a good guy… the media egged him on too in bis times of turmoil. I hope he hasn’t infected no one else. It makes sense be has it though… with his lifestyle of drugs and sex and mixing the two… just ewww…
jdboston617
@SteveDenver: With all due respect, don’t stir the pot. Who cares what ignorant people think.
jdboston617
I think this story perfectly sums that the STIGMA of HIV is alive and sadly well. AIDS and HIV are diseases. Plain and simple. They are not karmic sentences or symbols of someone’s lifestyle.
Glücklich
@SteveDenver:
I *am* implying he’s a drug-addled screw up and his turning up poz is the inevitable result of fucking enough other drug-addled screw-ups to populate a medium-sized city. Can’t see where you’re pulling “deserves” out of a narrative so obvious Helen Keller could’ve predicted it, though I always thought he’d OD (again) or flip his car before something like this happened.
Tackle
@Kangol: You know damn well that YOU don’t care about Black people. Stop trying to bring R@ce into this topic, like you always do…
sportsguy1983
He definitely is “Winning!!!” now. I will save my sympathy for someone who hasn’t been living a completely reckless and irresponsible life. There are consequences to irresponsible choices.
Sweetie Pie
Truth shall make you free…
Stache
@DDstar1me: So what if he was a “whore”. No one deserves an illness.
M K
OK, not that it’s ever right for someone to extort another, but for him to make the comment about how that didn’t just impact him, but more importantly his kids and grandkids is just laughable (and pathetic)…. maybe he should have thought about how spending millions on whores, drug and alcohol also impacted them…. just think about how much better off your kids and grandkids would have been if they had the benefit of all that money – not to mention how they would have been better cared for by a sober and wealthy parent. This guy is an idiot and hypocrite. I wish him the best…. NOT!
Stache
@sportsguy1983: Better that than a judgemental prick like you. Go back to your closet and fuck off.
Stache
@M K: He was very good looking guy who got famous and wealthy while young. People dove at the chance to have sex with him and of course the drugs were given to him wherever he was or wanted them. That would fuck anyone up.
With your holier than thou attitude I’m just glad I don’t know you.
redcarpet30
But, but, but straight people don’t get HIV!
Paco
@sportsguy1983: How about we leave such uninformed comments back in 1983 where they belong, Mr. Helms. You know, back when people were saying gays deserved no sympathy for catching a virus, because their deviant lifestyle led to it.
money718
Thamk goodness for MEDS. I wonder if more famous people will come forward with their status, instead of continuing to pay extortion money.
Xzamilio
Not gonna lie… of all the things that I thought would happen to Charlie Sheen, contracting HIV was at the bottom of that list… but he has lived an incredibly reckless life. But he seems to have his condition under control (for now) so I wish him nothing but the best.
DDstar1me
@Stache…..hhhhh..girl bye! Stop reaching.
Giancarlo85
He doesn’t deserve HIV. No one does. But he is a mess who has many other issues, including alcoholism.
Bob LaBlah
@Masc Pride…….”I think Charlie Sheen will be to poz people what Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner is to trans people. From what I’ve read, this circus is really just starting.”
You hit the piñata dead center with that one. I’ll leave it at that before the “insinuations police” begin THEIR troll….er, um, patrol. Yeah, thats how I meant to say it. Patrol.
Stache
@Bob LaBlah: Not people like Greg Louganis or Magic Johnson?
Brian
He might be HIV-pos but he must have caught it from someone. What about some of those highly promiscuous women he mixes with – they could have given it to him.
Gay men need to stop man-blaming when it comes to HIV. Men can transmit HIV to women but women can ALSO transmit HIV to men. Consider the role of careless and promiscuous women, too.
Also, don’t forget the role of IV drug use.
Bob LaBlah
@Stache….”Not people like Greg Louganis or Magic Johnson?”
I assume you are more up to date than the rest of us in regards to these two so tell us, what have they done or said these days of late in regards to HIV that makes them worthy of mentioning? I sure as hell can’t think of a damn thing.
Steven Burr
ASSHOLE
John Kuehnle
He doesn’t have to worry about buying his meds.
acutepbos
Whatever you all may think of Charlie Sheen, his escapades, outbursts, morals, choices, etc… I’m surprised that no one has elevated the discussion to the subject of just why he had to come out and disclose now: Because someone took it upon him/herself to make this public and the media ran with it.
I’ve been asking myself this question since this was run as a blind item last week in “The Sun”: Why is it okay that Charlie Sheen’s HIV status is made public? And if it’s okay for his to be made public, is it okay for everyone else’s to be made public? (i.e. should there be an HIV-registry?)
I believe this is a bit more nuanced than the concept of “outing” a public figure (usually a politician) whose actions or choices fly in the face of their own private life. The idea that someone should be ashamed of having this virus is a contributing factor when it comes to the propagation of the virus, e.g. people aren’t truthful with their sex partners because of the backlash they fear.
Sheen is by no means a victim. And for sure, I really hope he doesn’t get held up as a “new face of HIV” or any of that crap. AND, by no means does he speak for me, or give me a role model for dealing with this disease. But for all of you throwers-of-shade: sit back, read what you’ve written and consider your own contribution to the progression of this disease.
As an HIV-positive man, undetectable and healthy, and open and clear with my sex partners, I doubt I’ve ever contributed to someone else’s infection the way you catty bit^*es have.
jantheman4903
@SteveDenver: will answer the condescending question. fuck no. and i think hiv should stay away from him/give it a bad name. despised him before..same amount now.
Chris
During his interview, he admitted to lots of things — from abusing steroids to paying in the millions for hush money. Now, he is rebuilding himself and his life. I will admit to having mixed feeling about what he did and how he wasted his talents; but even though I do not know the man, I hope that he makes something of himself that is worthy of being admired and emulated.
I do admire how Greg Louganis and Magic Johnson have lived what seem like good lives after they revealed their own HIV status.
alphacentauri
This is extremely old news. He got it from either unprotected sex with women, men, or pre op trans women, or sharing IVs. At least he’s wealthy enough that he doesn’t have to worry about the expensive medications.
alphacentauri
@redcarpet30: Who says he’s actually hetero? http://www.examiner.com/article/charlie-sheen-and-wife-brooke-mueller-swing-both-ways
moldisdelicious
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID:
lol. good catch.
martinbakman
His story doesn’t totally wash. If he really wanted to come out to prevent blackmail, he could have done so by bringing charges against the bad people taking his money.
Saint Law
@Brian: Is there anything you don’t consider women’s fault?
Your physical ugliness? Mental decrepitude? Your forlorn, loveless, sexless, lonely existence?
Hun
I blame Ronald Reagan.
Brian
Charlie Sheen was swimming in the same sewer as the women he was paying for sex. Neither Charlie nor the women get a pass from me.
Cam
Anybody want to bet that TLC has already reached out to him about doing a reality show?
Billy Budd
Poor guy.
Blackceo
This was not surprising news at all. He made no secret of his affinity for drugs and banging just about anything. I also don’t believe he told all of his partners about his status up front. That said, I hope he gets his mental health and physical health in order. He’s still a human being at the end of the day who needs to reign in his reckless behavior.
alphacentauri
@Blackceo: Very true. He still drinks and I do not believe at all that he doesn’t use other drugs besides alcohol.
notevenwrong
Nobody deserves HIV, but some of the nasty commenters in this thread surely deserve SOMETHING to happen to them. If only karma were real.
notevenwrong
So where are the prosecutions?
People go prison for extorting rich closeted Republicans, but apparently HIV+ people are just fair game.
Horse Lips
I tried really, really hard, but I just cannot care any less.