Charlie Sheen was blackmailed by prostitutes and others about HIV

Former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen admitted he has been blackmailed for up to $10m as he disclosed he has the HIV virus.

In an interview on NBC’s Today, the 50-year-old Sheen said he tested positive for the virus that causes Aids.

However, when asked by Today co-host Matt Lauer if he had transmitted the disease to others, he declared: “Impossible. Impossible.”

He said he was diagnosed about four years ago.

He said one reason for going public with his condition was to put a stop to shakedowns from prostitutes and others who threatened to out him.

He said he had paid “enough to bring it into the millions”, perhaps as much as $10m, to buy their silence and now was seeking to “put a stop to this barrage of attacks and sub-truths”.

He said one prostitute took a photo of the HIV-related drugs in his medicine cabinet and threatened to sell it to the tabloids.

“Are you still paying these people?” Lauer asked him.

“Not after today I’m not,” Sheen replied.

Asked why he brought such people into his house, Sheen said: “I was so depressed by the condition I was in, I was doing a lot of drugs, I was drinking way too much and making really bad decisions.’

“I now 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, for kicking the door open.’ ”

Sheen with his former wife Denise Richards

The disclosure was only the latest chapter in Sheen’s headline-seizing behaviour.

In recent years, drug and alcohol use led to his being kicked off CBS’ Two and a Half Men in 2011 after an explosive meltdown that included calling the show’s producer “a contaminated little maggot”.

He added he is very far away from the person who had such a public meltdown four years ago.

“There’s a lot about that I’m not proud of,” he said.

“You can only hear ’winning’ in the street so many times.

"I missed out on a lot of very good opportunities but I’m approaching it at this time with more of a philanthropic approach in my life.”

In the final segment of the three-part interview, Sheen said he was expecting lawsuits from sexual partners as a result of his revelation.

“I would be predicting the future and assuming the worst,” he said.

“I can only imagine, based on what I’ve already experienced and been forced to deal with, I’m sure that is next.”

In 35 US states, it is illegal to not disclose an HIV diagnosis to a sexual partner.

Sheen and actress Denise Richards were married from 2002 to 2006 and have two daughters.

Sheen and real estate investor Brooke Mueller wed in 2008 and divorced in 2011; they have two sons.

Sheen said he had informed her of his diagnosis.

His eldest child, Cassandra, was born to a high-school girlfriend in 1984.