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 / Updated / Source: & Other Stories By Eun Kyung Kim 
 
 Charlie Sheen revealed he is HIV positive Tuesday in an exclusive TODAY interview with Matt Lauer. 
 
 “It’s a hard three letters to absorb. It’s a turning point in one’s life,” the 50-year-old actor said. 
 
 Sheen said he made the announcement to end a smear campaign and extortion efforts. 
 
 “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, threatening the health of so many others that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said. 
 
 READ: Charlie Sheen pens an open letter about his HIV-positive diagnosis 
 
 Sheen said he’s trusted the diagnosis with people he thought he could confide in, but has paid out upwards of $10 million to keep the illness a secret. 
 
 “What people forget is that that's money they're taking from my children,” he said about the “shakedowns” he has experienced. “I trusted them and they were deep in my inner circle, and I thought they could be helpful. My trust turned to their treason.” 
 
 He said appearing on TODAY will help put a stop to those payouts. 
 
 “That’s my goal. That’s not my only goal. I think I release myself from this prison today,” he said. 
 
 Sheen said he was diagnosed roughly four years ago, but doesn’t know how he contracted the virus. 
 
 “It started with what I thought was a series of crushing headaches,” he said. “I thought I had a brain tumor. I thought it was over.” 
 
 He also insisted it was “impossible” that he knowingly transmitted the virus to others. While he admitted to having unprotected sex with two people since the diagnosis, both were informed ahead of time and have been under the care of his doctor. But Sheen dismissed the idea that he engaged in high-risk behaviors. 
 
 "You're talking about needles and that whole mess? No, definitely not," he said. 
 
 HIV is the virus that leads to AIDS, which has no cure. But “Charlie does not have AIDS,” said the actor’s physician, Dr. Robert Huizenga, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. 
 
 While an HIV-positive diagnosis used to be considered a death sentence, and there still is no cure, medical advancements have helped turn it into a manageable illness. However, antiviral drugs must be taken for a lifetime. 
 
 Sheen revealed he takes four pills every day, and his doctor said the main battle facing the actor is not related to HIV, but relapsing into substance abuse problems or entering into depression related to his diagnosis. 
 
 “We’re petrified about Charlie. We’re so, so anxious that if he was overly depressed, if he was abusing substance, he would forget these pills and that’s been an incredible worry,” he said. However, he said Sheen has been vigilant about his regimen. 
 
 “Magically, somehow in the midst of incredible personal mayhem, he’s managed to continue to take these medications,” Huizenga said. 
 
 Matt Lauer interviews Charlie Sheen in a TODAY Show exclusive interview. Samantha Okazaki 
 
 Sheen said he hopes by going public with the diagnosis, it will help dispel the stigma of HIV. 
 
 “I have a responsibility now to better myself and to help a lot of other people and hopefully with what we’re doing today others will come forward and say, 'Thanks, Charlie,'” he said. 
 
 READ MORE: What Charlie Sheen's HIV announcement means for his health 
 
 Sheen said he told ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller about the diagnosis when he found out. He also shared the news recently with his oldest daughter. 
 
 “It hit her hard, but she recovered. She’s tough like her dad,” he said. 
 
 “I said, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but it didn’t seem like you could do anything for me and I didn’t want to burden you with all the stress.’ But she was a rock star about it.” 
 
 Sheen's personal announcement Tuesday renewed a spotlight on Sheen’s troubled history with drug addiction, pornography and prostitutes. 
 
 Charlie Sheen and ex-girlfriend Bree Olson on the red carpet in 2011. Daniel Boczarski / Getty Images Contributor 
 
 Sheen rose to become one of Hollywood’s best-known actors through a series of memorable movie roles including "Wall Street" and "Red Dawn." In more recent years, however, his public persona was shaped by a public meltdown during his 2011 feud with the creator of “Two and a Half Men,” the television series that helped him become the highest-paid television actor at the time. In the end, Sheen was fired from the show. 
 
 He told Lauer that his behavior at the time had little to do with his diagnosis. 
 
 “I wish I could blame it on that,” he said. “That was more of a (ste)roid rage. This was on the heels of that.” 
 
 Sheen admitted that period was not one he looks back fondly on. 
 
 “There’s a lot out there I’m not proud of. You can only hear ‘winning’ in the streets so many times,” he said. “I’ve pissed off a lot of really good opportunities.” 
 
 WATCH: Sheen reveals, 'I'm HIV positive,' paid many who threatened to expose me 
 
 But he said he’s entering a more thoughtful and reflective phase in his life. 
 
 “I’m approaching a time of more of a philanthropic approach in my life,” he said. He admitted that paying off people to keep quiet about his condition, as well as other factors, has hurt his bank account. 
 
 “It’s not great. It will be great again. I’m a survivor. I’ve been up, I’ve been down, I’ve been rich, I’ve been poor,” he said. “It’s another chapter in my life but it’s not commerce driven. It’s socially driven.” 
 
 Charlie Sheen talks about his HIV-positive diagnosis with Matt Lauer. TODAY 
 
 He said he doubts his HIV positive status will have an impact on his future career, pointing out a conversation he is having with the chairman of Sony, who he said is “excited about doing a show again.” 
 
 He also said he has several films lined up. 
 
 “Thus far, there’s been no resistance,” he said. 
 
 Sheen wouldn’t predict how the general media will respond to his interview, but expected his comments at least will dispel some of the myths written about him. 
 
 “I would have faith that it will be a lot more forgiving and a lot more supportive than some of the garbage I was reading in the last couple of days. Frankly, I don’t think it can get worse that that,” he said about tabloid stories that insisted he was intentionally infecting others with HIV. “I just thought, ‘Wow. Damn. That’s just as far from the truth as anything could be.' They’re going to reveal a whole lot of proof because it’s just not there. It does not exist.” 
 
 After hearing some of the encouraging reaction people on social media have had to his announcement, Sheen said he’d gladly “ride this wave of support.” 
 
 “If there was one guy on this planet to contract this that’s going to deliver a cure, it’s me. It’s me. Seriously,” he said. 
 
 “I’m not going to be the poster man for this, but I will not shun away from responsibilities and opportunities that drive me to helping others.” ||||| Charlie Sheen confirmed on the Today show on Tuesday, Nov. 17, that his ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller knew his HIV-positive status. He also recalled a heartbreaking story about telling one of kids about his diagnosis. 
 
 Sheen discovered his HIV-positive status about four years ago. "It started with what I thought was this series of crushing headaches and migraines and sweating the bed," the Two and a Half Men alum, 50, told Matt Lauer. "I thought I had a brain tumor. After a spinal test, they said, 'This is what's going on.'" 
 
 
 
 Sheen broke the news to his exes in 2011. At the time, the actor was still married to Mueller; he called her and told her to get checked. 
 
 Once TV's highest-paid actor, Sheen has been married three times. The star was married to model Donna Peele in the '90s, followed by Richards from 2002 to 2006, and Mueller, 38, from 2008 to 2011. Sheen shares two young daughters, Sam, 11, and Lola, 10, with Richards, and is dad to twin sons Bob and Max, 6, with Mueller. He also shares a grown daughter, Cassandra Estevez, with his ex Paula Profit. 
 
 
 
 Kevin Winter/Getty Images 
 
 
 
 
 
 "I've told enough [people] that I've trusted to be in the position that I'm in today," Sheen told Lauer on Tuesday. As Us Weekly confirmed on Monday, Sheen's second ex-wife, Richards, has known about the actor's HIV-positive status for years, and supported him through his condition. A source told Us that the Drop Dead Gorgeous actress and her daughters are not HIV-positive. Sheen confirmed this to Lauer on the Today show on Tuesday morning. 
 
 Mueller's rep Steve Honig also released a statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday, confirming that she and the twins were also not infected. “Brooke has been inundated with calls from friends and family," the real estate broker's rep told Us. "To put their minds at ease, Brooke can confirm that she and the boys are not HIV positive." 
 
 Sheen only recently disclosed his HIV-positive status to his kids, including his eldest, Cassandra, 30. "It hit her hard, but she recovered," Sheen recalled on the Today show. "But she's tough like her dad . . . She was a rock star about it." 
 
 
 
 Sheen told Lauer why he was opening up finally about his battle. 
 
 "I am here to admit that I am, in fact, HIV-positive. I have to put a stop to this mirage of attacks of sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are about me that are threatening the health of so many others," he disclosed on the morning show. "I think I release myself from this prison today." 
 
 Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics, and more delivered straight to your inbox! ||||| NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) — Troubled actor Charlie Sheen confirmed Tuesday media reports stating he is HIV-positive. 
 
 The 50-year-old celebrity is the father of five children, the son of beloved actor Martin Sheen and the brother of actor/filmmaker Emilio Estevez. 
 
 “I’m here to admit that I am, in fact, HIV-positive,” Charlie Sheen said after thanking Today show interviewer Matt Lauer and his producing team for their time and compassion. 
 
 “I have to put a stop to this on-slaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories about threatening the health of others, which couldn’t be farther from the truth,” said the actor, who was well-dressed in a navy suit and appeared sober during the interview. 
 
 Sheen then explained he was diagnosed with the disease about four years ago and only told those he trusted about his condition. 
 
 “It’s a hard three letters to absorb,” he added. “It’s a turning point in one’s life.” 
 
 Sheen said he decided to speak out now because he was tired of being blackmailed by several people who demanded cash in exchange for their silence. He did not specify how many people he has paid off, but did say he has spent millions of dollars trying to keep the secret. 
 
 “What people forget is that’s money that they are taking from my children. They think it’s just me, but I’ve got five children and a granddaughter,” he said. 
 
 Coming up…@CharlieSheen sits down with @MLauer to make a revealing personal announcement. pic.twitter.com/Q24SBHUQJb— TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 17, 2015 
 
 Sheen enjoyed early success on the big screen in films such as Lucas, Platoon, Wall Street, Young Guns, Eight Men Out, Major League, Hot Shots and The Three Musketeers. He later became a popular sitcom star in the shows Spin City, Two and a Half Men and Anger Management. 
 
 However, his once-bright career became eclipsed by reports of his erratic behavior, drug use and brushes with the law. 
 
 People magazine said Sheen’s ex-wife — actress Denise Richards — has long been aware of his HIV-positive status, however neither she nor their young daughters were infected with the disease. 
 
 “She’s known Charlie was HIV-positive for a number of years,” a source told the magazine. 
 
 “He was infected after they divorced, and they haven’t been intimate since,” the insider said. “Neither she nor their daughters [Sam, 11, and Lola, 9] are HIV-positive.” 
 
 “My heart hurts. Prayers for Charlie and his family,” Heather Locklear, Sheen’s former co-star on Spin City, said in an Instagram post Monday after NBC announced it had booked Sheen for an exclusive interview amid reports of his health crisis.
– It's true: Charlie Sheen revealed to Matt Lauer on the Today show Tuesday morning that he is, in fact, HIV-positive, and has known for four years. "It's a tough three letters to absorb. It's a turning point in one's life," says Sheen. The diagnosis came while he was hospitalized for a series of severe headaches. The 50-year-old actor says he has paid big money to people over the last four years who have threatened to go public with his secret—including a prostitute who once photographed his medication. "I think I release myself from this prison today," he said. Sheen said it's "impossible" that he has transmitted HIV to anyone else. He also told Lauer that he has had unprotected sex with two people since the diagnosis, but both were aware of his status. (TMZ reports that he has settled lawsuits with people who had sex with him but were unaware of his HIV status.) He's not clear on how he contracted HIV, but he spoke of his out-of-control drinking and drug use of a few years ago. "Bad decisions." Sheen's doctor also appeared on the show, and he said Sheen currently has "undetectable" levels of HIV in his body, thanks to medication. (The fight against HIV recently scored a "major win.")