After a week of endless speculation that he was the A-list actor who was trying to keep an HIV diagnosis a secret, Charlie Sheen has confirmed that he does have the disease.

Is Charlie Sheen Addressing HIV Rumors Because Of 'The National Enquirer?'

"I'm here to admit that I am in fact HIV-positive," he said in a one-on-one sitdown with The TODAY Show's Matt Lauer. "I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barage of attacks and sub-truths and very harmful and mercurial stories that are threatening the health of so many others, which couldn't be further from the truth"

Sheen's interview came after rumors and speculation began running rampant since a story went public last week that an actor who had a large number of high-profile relationships in his past was HIV positive and had been keeping the secret for at least two years over fears the diagnosis would hurt his career.

During the interview, he admitted he has actually known about his diagnosis for four years, and he originally thought he was suffering from a brain tumor before getting his official diagnosis.

"It started with cluster headaches and insane migraine and sweating the bed completely drenched," he said. "I thought I had a brain tumour. I had tests...they walked in the room and said 'Boom. Here's what's going on. It's a hard three letters to absorb. It's a turning point in one's life."

He also said that he had been dealing with large amounts of extortion and blackmail since his diagnosis, admitting that he paid upwards of $10 million to people who threatened to expose him.

"I've told enough that I trusted to be in the position and the situation that I'm in today," he said before noting that paying out what he had hurts him because "That's money from my children."

"I trusted them and they were deep in my inner circle, and I thought they could be helpful," he said. "My trust turned to their treason."

However, he says after today, the payouts would end.

But he said appearing on TODAY will help put a stop to those payout.

"That's my goal. That's not my only goal. I think I release myself from this prison today," he said.

Sheen also said he only practiced unsafe sex with two people since his diagnosis, who were told ahead of time and were also under the care of his doctor. However, outside of that, he says sex was always protected, making it "impossible" for him to have transferred the disease.

He also confirmed that his apparent meltdown a few years ago, which saw the actor referring to his blood as "Tiger Blood" and using the phrase "winning" fairly often, was on the heels of his diagnosis, though the actual moments in question were the result of a "'roid rage."

"I was so depressed by the condition I was in that I was doing a lot of drugs, I was drinking too much and I was making bad decisions," he said.

After the rumors began running wild, Sheen's name was the most often speculated by both the media and the general public on social media, and his decision to do the interview came after The National Enquirer released a preview of a story they were running which identified Sheen as the originally unnamed actor in the initial reports.

Later on in the interview, his doctor confirmed that the acto does not have AIDS and that HIV is currently not detectable in his blood. The doctor confirmed that because of the state of Sheen's health, provided he practices safe sex, his chances of transmitting the disease are very low.

"Charlie has contracted the HIV virus," the dcotor said. "He was immediately put on treatment, strong anti-biral drugs which have surpressed the virus. Unfortunately, we don't have a cure yet. It's supressed the virus to the point where he is absolutely healthy from that vantage. My biggest concern for Charlie as a patient is substance abuse and depression from the disease, more than what the HIV virus could do in terms of shortening his life, which it's not going to...Charlie does not have AIDS."

Sheen also said, that despite still occasionally drinking (he says he has given up drugs entirely), that he has never once in four years forgotten to take his medication.

He also said that his ex-wives, Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller, are aware of his diagnosis, as well as his oldest daughter, Cassandra, with high school girlfriend Paula Profit.

Sheen's career has apparently stalled since his FX series Anger Management ended in 2014 after a two year run. Since the show ended, he had a one episode guest appearance on ABC's The Goldbergs. However, he says he does still have future film projects lined up with no resistance from any studios, and despite paying off his blackmailers the last few years diminishing his financial status, he has high hopes he will be "great again."

"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."

Sheen hopes that at the end of all of this however, that his coming forward will help others who suffer from the disease, by letting them know it's okay to come forward with the truth.

"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 may come forward and say, 'Thanks, Charlie. Thanks for kicking the door open,'" he said.

Tags
Hollywood HIV Scandal, Charlie Sheen