Charlie Sheen Reveals He Is HIV Positive

 Charlie Sheen confirmed during an interview on NBC’s ‘Today Show’ that he is HIV positive. He didn’t find out about it just recently. He’s known for years but chose to keep it secret. Charlie says he was diagnosed about 4 years ago. He had some headaches at the time and was worried he might have a brain tumor. He went to a hospital and the test results revealed that he didn’t have a tumor, instead he had HIV.

 

Charlie Sheen brought his doctor, Robert Huizenga, to the show with him. The doctor stressed that Charlie doesn’t have AIDs, he’s just HIV positive. The difference is that HIV is just a virus that can lead to AIDs. Charlie is taking daily medication for HIV, that keeps him healthy and helps contain the virus. The doctors were worried that because of Charlie’s history with substance abuse and alcoholism he might forget to take his HIV medication, but so far Charlie’s been really good with that. He says he’s clean and doesn’t take drugs anymore, but he admitted that he occasionally drinks.

 

Why did he decide to go on television to tell everyone about being HIV positive? Charlie Sheen says he spent too much time and money trying to hide this. When he told his closest friends about his diagnosis, hoping for help and support it backfired. Instead he was met with blackmail and threats of revealing this information to the press. Now he finally decided that enough was enough. Instead of trying to buy himself some privacy and deal with threats all the time, he publicly admitted to being HIV positive. “I think I released myself from a prison today,” said Charlie.