Charlie Sheen Says Hiding Having HIV Was Harder Than Living With It

Charlie Sheen says the load of hiding his HIV diagnosis took a larger toll on him than managing the situation itself.

On Thursday’s episode of “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” the actor spoke about his new memoir and make clear his journey living with HIV.

“Conserving it beneath wraps was so much worse than simply having it. And I did not understand that till I lastly sat with Matt Lauer, and was identical to, ‘This is what is going on on,'” Sheen advised host Graham Bensinger. “That facet of it, that was actually tough as a result of there was a variety of nefarious conduct.”

The “Two and a Half Males” actor stated he was “extorted” by individuals who knew of his prognosis earlier than he went public.

“I used to be identical to, ‘All proper, the one solution to make this go away is to do what I did on the freaking ‘Right now’ present. On reside tv, inform the world,” Sheen stated.

The actor shared that the lead-up to his prognosis was stuffed with a variety of uncertainty, particularly after he started experiencing extreme complications.

“I believed it was a mind tumor or spinal one thing or liver most cancers or one thing terminal for positive, which is why I did not wish to go to the hospital. And I feel I prevented it for like a day and a half, you recognize, and at last simply needed to go,” Sheen stated.

He added that his ex-wife, Denise Richards, was the one who took him to see a health care provider.

Sheen stated getting his prognosis was a sobering second.

“However once you get the outcomes, once you get the information, you are like, ‘Oh, OK. All proper. Let’s simply take it, simply take this in.’ You recognize, it isn’t the very best information. However there was different information that might have been so much worse, you recognize?” Sheen stated.

Though it was “actually miserable,” Sheen stated he was “lucky” that remedy choices had been accessible.

“I had some perspective to have a look at it as, OK, I believed it was going to be this, and it isn’t. In order that’s a fairly large win that I’ll take in the course of this massive loss,” Sheen stated. “It was like, OK, we are able to deal with this factor, and there is like, this is all of the know-how for that, you recognize.”

In 2015, Sheen publicly revealed his HIV diagnosis in a “Right now” present interview with Matt Lauer.

Again then, the actor stated he paid “sufficient to convey it into the thousands and thousands” to individuals who tried to blackmail him over his situation, and hoped that going public would lastly put an finish to it.

“That is my objective. That is not my solely objective. I feel I launch myself from this jail immediately,” Sheen stated.

Sheen is not the one actor who has publicly revealed his HIV prognosis.

In 2021, actor Billy Porter advised The Hollywood Reporter that he selected to disclose his prognosis to assist break stereotypes round dwelling with HIV.

“I am dwelling in order that I can inform the story. There’s a complete era that was right here, and I stand on their shoulders,” Porter stated. “I may be who I’m on this area, at the moment, due to the legacy that they left for me. So it is time to put my massive boy pants on and speak.”

Different celebrities who’ve spoken about their HIV diagnosis publicly embody Magic Johnson and “Queer Eye’s” Jonathan Van Ness.

Though there isn’t any treatment for HIV, there are remedy choices accessible. When taken as prescribed, the treatment could make the viral load in an individual’s physique so low that it is undetectable. Having an undetectable viral load signifies that the particular person can not transmit the virus to others throughout intercourse, the CDC stated.

A consultant for Sheen didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched by Enterprise Insider exterior common hours.