[YAHOO]
Less than 24 hours after Charlie Sheen‘s rep confirmed that the actor is receiving treatment for HIV, Sheen sat down with the Today show‘s Matt Lauer to offer a personal update.
“I’m here to admit that I am, in fact, HIV positive,” Sheen said Tuesday morning, confirming he was diagnosed about four years ago. “I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks of sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories threatening the health of so many others.”
Recalling how he came to be diagnosed, Sheen said, “It started with … this series of crushing headaches and insane migraines and sweating the bed, completely drenched two or three nights in a row, that I was emergency hospitalized. I thought I had a brain tumor, I thought it was over. After a battery of tests and spinal taps — all of that crap — they walked in the room and said, ‘Boom, here’s what’s going on.’”
Sheen also confirmed that multiple people, including several sexual partners, have been extorting him after learning of his condition. When asked if he’s been paying these people, he responded, “Not after today I’m not. That’s my goal. That’s not my only goal, but I think I released myself from this prison today.” Though Sheen doesn’t know exactly how much money has been taken from him, he estimated that it’s “enough to bring it into the millions.” Off-camera, he confirmed to Lauer that it has been more than $10 million.
Read the rest of the story and watch video from the interview at Yahoo News.