Charlie Sheen reveals he's HIV positive in TODAY Show exclusive

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. He said appearing on TODAY will help put a stop to those payouts.

"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.

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.

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.

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.
WATCH: Charlie Sheen reveals, 'I'm HIV positive,' paid many who threatened to expose me

"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."  - Read More at the Charlie Sheen 
Charlie Sheen reveals he's HIV positive in TODAY Show exclusive

Charlie Sheen discloses HIV positive diagnosis: 'It's a hard three letters to absorb' - the Guardian