Wise sons, indeed, make proud fathers. In this case, longtime AIDS activist and actor Martin Sheen said he's proud of his son Charlie for the younger's brave reveal of his HIV-positive status on national television.
In an event the same day Charlie revealed his 'undetectable' condition in Today, the elder Sheen told Naples Daily News that he wished he had that same courage like his son had.
"This morning, as I watched him alone, reveal his deepest, darkest secret, I couldn't believe the level of courage I was witnessing, and that it was my son," Martin said Tuesday night during an event at The Ritz-Carlton beach resort.
Martin explained that they'd been talking about it for some time before Charlie actually pushed through.
"He had been leading up to this sort of story for several months, and we kept encouraging him to do it," Martin said. "And he kept backing away and backing away because it was like going to his own execution, I guess.”
"It was the most difficult thing he'd ever done," he added. "And he kind of sealed it when he called Matt Lauer last week and asked if he could go on."
The proud father, who portrayed the role of a fictional U.S. president on NBC's “West Wing,” said that he and his wife had full support of Charlie's decision to go public.
"We didn't know until he walked on the set this morning that he was going to do it," he said. "I saw him Saturday night, my wife and I went to see him, to make sure he knew we were behind him, and if he wanted me to go, I would have canceled this event. He said, no, this was his and his alone."
Charlie himself admitted on-air that he had been diagnosed with HIV four years earlier, and had paid hush money to have it kept secret. However, blackmail and extortion efforts happened. In the hopes of being set free from it, as well as helping others, he went through the interview with boldness.
The 75-year-old actor expressed his happiness over what Charlie had done in live television.
"When someone comes to them-self, they have the moment of clarity, and they reveal their secrets — which all of us have — in public, it is a great sense of relief. It is a miraculous occasion," Martin said.
“And I hope that this day is the first day of the rest of Charlie's life as a free man," he added.
