Charlie Sheen Compares Announcing HIV Diagnosis to "Being Released From Prison"

The actor first revealed he had been diagnosed with the virus in late 2015 after years living with the secret

By Samantha Schnurr Jun 21, 2016 1:50 PMTags
Charlie SheenMatt Baron/BEI

For Charlie Sheen, hiding his HIV-positive diagnosis was a massive burden, emotionally and financially, to bear. 

After making the national announcement on Today in late November after years living with the secret, the former Two and a Half Men actor had hoped that the reveal would put an end to alleged ongoing blackmailing and personal ridicule. Overall, the current LELO HEX condoms spokesman certainly feels like a weight has been lifted from his life. 

"It was like being released from prison," he told Matt Lauer of making the confession on live television. "[It] unearthed the stepping stones to a rubicon of change."

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As for those who were extorting Sheen, he said they are "all sort of going back to the woodwork where they belong."

When asked about ongoing lawsuits against the Golden Globe winner, including one from his ex-girlfriend Brett Rossi, who claims he never notified her of his positive diagnosis while having unprotected sex, Sheen says they "do not have merit."

"No one has been infected," he declared. "There was two examples [of untold women], but protection was always in place and it was for the right reasons because everyone that I had told up until that moment had shaken me down." 

While he is confident he "will prevail" in his legal battles, the actor's health is currently as good as it can be. "I'm undetectable as we sit here today," he said, later pointing out a doctor in the audience who travels with him and helps administer weekly shots as part of a new FDA trial. The actor is presently pleased with the results, adding that he does not suffer from depression or "shades of dementia" as he had before. 

It's a swift turn from the progress he witnessed while off of his medication and under alternative treatment from a Mexican doctor. "That didn't go so well," he said. "I went from 0 to 7,000." Sheen has since resumed with the regular treatment. 

Personally, the Anger Management star has also been under fire from his ex-wife Brooke Mueller for owing $89,000 in child support for his twin sons, Bob and Max. In March, Sheen sought to reduce his child support payments to Mueller as his income has "changed significantly since the time the judgment entered in 2011," according to the court papers. 

During the interview with Lauer, Sheen said his finances are "fine" and it "ebbs and flows." However, when asked if he can pay his child support, he replied, "of course I can."

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Currently, Sheen is focusing on spending more time with his children to avoid any future regret. 

"I regret not using a condom the one or two times when this whole thing happened. I regret ruining Two and a Half Men. I regret not being more involved in my children's lives growing up, which I am now," he admitted. However, he believes it's time to focus on what lies ahead. 

"We can only move forward from today," he concluded. "They wouldn't call it the past if it wasn't."