NEW YORK — Charlie Sheen said he was HIV positive on the “Today” show Tuesday morning.
Sheen, the notorious bad boy actor, sat down in an interview with “Today” show host Matt Lauer, live in the “Today” show New York studio.
The actor said he had been diagnosed with HIV about four years ago after being hospitalized with severe headaches. Sheen said he thought he had a brain tumor. It was at that time he was diagnosed with HIV and started treatment.
He said that he used condoms with his sexual partners since that time with two exceptions, both of whom were aware of the medical issues involved. When a person with HIV is undergoing antiviral treatments, the risk of HIV transmission during sex is extremely low according to the CDC.
Sheen said he has not missed taking the four pills a day, which are part of his treatment, since being diagnosed.
He said that he had paid $10 million for the silence of people who discovered his HIV positive status. “Are you still paying?” Lauer asked.
“Not after today, I’m not. I’ve been released from that prison today,” said Sheen.
Sheen said he spoke to both of his ex wives about the diagnosis. Sheen has been married to Brooke Mueller and Denise Richards and had children with each.
He said he told his oldest daughter in the past week.
Sheen, 50, is one of Hollywood’s best known actors, starring in hit films like “Wall Street” and on CBS’s “Two and a Half Men.”
Sheen was fired from “Two and a Half Men” in 2011 following a public meltdown that had the actor lashing out at the show’s creator.
Among the more notorious points of his career, Sheen entered drug rehab twice, lived with three women, and repeatedly proclaimed he was “winning.”
His salary on “Two and a Half Men” was one of the highest on TV at the time at $1.25 million per episode in 2010.
Sheen did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
