Charlie Sheen, famous for “Wall Street,” “Two and a Half Men” and “Anger Management,” has revealed in an interview with Today that he is HIV positive.
The 50-year-old actor publicly admitted the condition to end blackmailing efforts to extort money from him. By coming out, he hopes to help himself and many others.
"I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are about me, threatening the health of so many others that couldn't be further from the truth," Sheen said.
He said he paid out money to have it kept secret, but his revealing of the truth would even help him more. “I think I release myself from this prison today," he said.
He said he received the diagnosis four years ago, and since then his life has changed.
"It's a hard three letters to absorb. It's a turning point in one's life," he said.
Sheen, whose real name is Carlos Irwin Estevez, said that currently HIV levels in his blood have lowered to the state of being “undetectable,” thanks largely to antiretroviral treatments and medicines.
Dr. Robert Huizenga, Sheen's doctor, confirmed that he has undetectable HIV levels in his blood.
"He was immediately put on treatment, strong antiviral drugs which have suppressed the virus," Huizenga, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at UCLA, said in the interview.
Although the “viral load,” or HIV levels in the blood, may seem very low – enough for it to remain unseen or undetected via blood tests – there is still a risk that the virus might be passed on to another person.
"Individuals who are optimally treated with undetectable viral loads … it's incredibly rare to transmit the virus," Huizenga said. "We can't say that that's zero, but it's a very, very low level."
The risk may be lessened, but government officials warned that risks still remain.
“Taking anti-HIV drugs (ARVs) is very important for both your health and for reducing your risk of passing HIV to sex partners, but it is not 100% effective at preventing HIV transmission.”
Vox added that even though the viral load goes down, it may rise again when a person positive with HIV stops taking antiviral drugs, putting them at a more dangerous situation: developing AIDS, and being more able to transmit the virus to others.
Sheen, after discovering the support that people give him, decided to take advantage of it.
"If there was one guy on this planet to contract this that's going to deliver a cure, it's me. It's me. Seriously," he said.
