NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Charlie Sheen said his bad-boy days are over and, with Tuesday\u2019s declaration that he\u2019s HIV-positive, he aims to become an inspiration to others.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy partying days are behind me,\u201d Sheen said in a letter posted online. \u201cMy philanthropic days are ahead of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The manifesto was released as the former \u201cTwo and a Half Men\u201d star appeared on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d to say he tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS about four years ago, but that, thanks to a rigorous drug regimen, he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n
When asked by \u201cToday\u201d co-host Matt Lauer if he had transmitted the disease to others, Sheen declared, \u201cImpossible. Impossible,\u201d and insisted he had informed every sexual partner of his condition beforehand. He told Lauer he has had unprotected sex with two partners, both of whom knew ahead of time, adding, with no clarification, \u201cThey were under the care of my doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
That claim was disputed by Bree Olson, who was living with Sheen in 2011 as one of his two \u201cgoddesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never said anything to me,\u201d Olson said on Howard Stern\u2019s SiriusXM radio show Tuesday.<\/p>\n
She said she learned of Sheen\u2019s condition only in the past few days, prompting her to be tested. She told Stern the results were negative.<\/p>\n
Asked by Lauer if he expected \u201ca barrage of lawsuits\u201d from past sexual partners alleging he infected them, he said wanly, \u201cI\u2019m sure that\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in California, where Sheen resides, a person can be charged with a felony only if they are aware they are HIV-positive and engage in unprotected sex with another person with the specific intent of exposing them to the disease.<\/p>\n
With his public pronouncements, Sheen said he hoped to reduce the stigma and shame still felt by others diagnosed with HIV, as well as by those reluctant to be tested. He voiced hope that \u201cothers may come forward and say, \u2018Thanks, Charlie, for kicking the door open.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
While some may have dismissed what Sheen said as the latest rantings of a reckless grandstander, others were calling him a champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, he\u2019s a hero of mine,\u201d said Peter Staley, a long-time AIDS activist who is HIV-positive. Watching Sheen\u2019s interview, \u201cI saw someone who has made a major leap forward and is on a new path that will hopefully end up helping a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Gay Men\u2019s Health Crisis CEO Kelsey Louie said, \u201cCharlie Sheen deserves privacy and respect for sharing his status \u2014 no matter what his personal circumstances were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheen said one reason for going public with his condition was to put a stop to shakedowns from prostitutes and others. He said one prostitute took a photo of the HIV-related drugs in his medicine cabinet and threatened to sell that photo to the tabloids.<\/p>\n
He said he had paid \u201cenough to bring it into the millions\u201d \u2014 perhaps as much as $10 million \u2014 to buy their silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you still paying these people?\u201d Lauer asked him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot after today I\u2019m not,\u201d said Sheen, who during his appearance appeared jumpy and spoke in stuttering bursts.<\/p>\n
He did not address when, and by whom, he may have been infected.<\/p>\n
For part of the interview, Sheen was joined by his physician, Dr. Robert Huizenga, who said the HIV level in Sheen\u2019s blood is \u201cundetectable\u201d and that he does not have AIDS.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is absolutely healthy,\u201d said Huizenga.<\/p>\n
Sheen said in the past that he was \u201cso depressed by the condition I was in that I was doing a lot of drugs, I was drinking way too much.\u201d He said he currently is not abusing drugs, though he allowed that he is \u201cstill drinking a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The disclosure was the latest chapter in Sheen\u2019s headline-seizing history. In recent years, drug and alcohol abuse led to his being kicked off CBS\u2019 hit sitcom \u201cTwo and a Half Men\u201d in 2011, where he played a womanizing bachelor, after a meltdown that included calling the show\u2019s producer \u201ca contaminated little maggot.\u201d<\/p>\n
His escapades also included the revelation that he spent more than $50,000 as a client of \u201cHollywood Madam\u201d Heidi Fleiss\u2019 prostitution ring.<\/p>\n
Sheen has been married three times, the first time to model Donna Peele in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
He and actress Denise Richards were married from 2002 to 2006 and have two daughters. Sheen and real estate investor Brooke Mueller wed in 2008 and divorced in 2011; they have two sons.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrooke can confirm that she and the boys are not HIV positive,\u201d Steve Honig, a spokesperson for Mueller, said in an email.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP writers Lynn Elber and Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles, Hannah Cushman in Chicago and Lauran Neergaard in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Charlie Sheen said his bad-boy days are over and, with Tuesday\u2019s declaration that he\u2019s HIV-positive, he aims to become an inspiration to others. \u201cMy partying days are behind me,\u201d Sheen said in a letter posted online. \u201cMy philanthropic days are ahead of me.\u201d The manifesto was released as the former \u201cTwo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15690"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}