Actor Charlie Sheen has confirmed he is HIV-Positive during a candid interview on US television.
After much speculation, Sheen confirmed his health status to NBC Today show host Matt Lauer live on air on Tuesday.
"I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub truths... and very harmful and mercurial stories threatening the health of so many others, which couldn't be farther from the truth," he said.
When asked if he may have transmitted HIV to anyone since his diagnosis, Sheen replied: "Impossible."
The actor - best known for his lead roles in the series Two and a Half Men and Spin City and the films Platoon and Wall Street - said he had received his diagnosis "roughly four years ago" and that it was "a hard three letters to absorb".
When asked did he know how he had contracted HIV, Sheen replied: "Not entirely".
Previously, he had begun having "insane migraines" and sweating profusely in bed. He was hospitalised and thought he had a brain tumour before the diagnosis was confirmed.
The 50-year-old said he had confided in enough people that he felt he could trust to be in the position that he was now in, where he felt compelled to give the interview.
In trying to keep his diagnosis out of the media spotlight, he said that he had become a victim of betrayal and extortion with some demanding money to stay silent. Sheen alleged he had paid enough people to "bring it into the millions".
"What people forget is that's money they're taking from my children," he added.
He described the interview as a way of releasing himself "from this prison".
"I have a responsibility now to better myself and help a lot of other people," he said.
Sheen has battled drug and alcohol problems over the years with his private life generating much controversy and media coverage. He has been married three times, engaged five times and is father to five children.
The Golden Globe winner's most recent sitcom, Anger Management, ended in December 2014 after 100 episodes and he is said to have kept a low profile recently.
