Charlie Sheen Reveals He's HIV Positive, Has Paid Millions To Keep People Silent

Charlie Sheen has confirmed that he is HIV positive, as rumored in recent days by an onslaught of tabloid stories.

"I'm here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive," said Sheen. "It's a hard three letters to absorb. It's a turning point in one's life."

Sheen told Matt Lauer on the Today show that he was going public with his illness for multiple reasons, including that he's been blackmailed for upward of $10 million since he was diagnosed four years ago.

Sheen said that he hired prostitutes over the years, some of whom turned around and extorted him over his diagnosis. Sheen told Lauer that one woman took a cellphone photo of the antiretroviral HIV medication he had in his bathroom and threatened to sell the image to the tabloids.

"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, that threaten the health of so many others that couldn't be further from the truth,' said Sheen about his decision to go public with his status.

"We're talking about shakedowns. I have paid those people. Not that many, but enough. What people forget is that's money they're taking from my children," Sheen told Lauer. "They think it's just me, but I've got five kids and a granddaughter. ... I release myself from this prison today."

Sheen said depression over his condition led him to drug and alcohol use, "making a lot of bad decisions" that resulted in hiring more prostitutes who could blackmail him.

"That part I own, 100 per cent," Sheen said.

He told Lauer he led with "condoms and honesty" with all of his sexual partners, and it "couldn't be farther from the truth" that he threatened the health of many others - he said it's impossible that he transmitted the disease to anyone else. Sheen said that he had unprotected sex with two partners, but both were warned ahead of time and under a doctor's care. Sheen confirmed that before sexual activity, he's told all of his partners that he is HIV-positive.

- NZ Herald