"I am a survivor": Charlie Sheen has confirmed he is HIV positive.

“I’m here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive.”

Hollywood mega-star Charlie Sheen has confirmed he is HIV positive, days after rumours of the diagnosis began to circulate.

Sheen, 50, confirmed the diagnosis in a sit-down interview with Matt Lauer of US morning show Today on Tuesday morning New York time.

Appearing live, Sheen told Lauer he was diagnosed with the condition four years ago after suffering a series of debilitating “cluster headaches and migraines.”

He also claimed he was going public with his diagnosis after paying “millions” of dollars in extortion payments to individuals who threatened to reveal his HIV positive status to the media.

Sheen reveals his diagnosis. Post continues after video:

Here are the main revelations from the show:

On whether his sexual partners knew of his status:

The actor insisted he had disclosed his condition to all partners — with “no exceptions” — before any kind of sexual activity since receiving his diagnosis.

“I always led with condoms and honesty when it came to my condition,” he claimed.

The Apocalypse Now actor said he had had unprotected sex with two people since his diagnosis, but that “the two people that I did that with were under the care of my doctor and they were completely warned ahead of time.”

When asked about the possibility of partners contracting the virus, Sheen said that was “impossible. Impossible.”

Sheen, who has been romantically linked to a string of actresses, said on the show that his ex-wives Denise Richards, Donna Peele and Brooke Mueller are aware of his diagnosis.

The actor also dismissed recent tabloid articles that suggested he had intentionally been spreading the virus to partners as “garbage”.

But Sheen’s claims to have disclosed his condition to his partners has already been contradicted by his ex-girlfriend Bree Olson, who said on Tuesday morning the actor had never told her of his HIV-positive status.

“He never said anything to me,” the adult film star said on The Howard Stern Show. “I was his girlfriend. I lived with him. We were together. We had sex almost every day for a year.”

She also said they had used lambskin condoms, which do not protect against HIV.

On why he revealed the diagnosis after keeping it quiet for so long:

Sheen claimed he had employed sex workers for some time after his diagnosis, and that some of them had tried to blackmail him over his condition — leading him to pay out millions in extortion payments.

“I dazedly chose or hired the companionship of unsavoury types,” he said in a letter to Lauer read out on the show, but “my trust turned to their treason.”

He claimed that at least one sex worker had gone into his bathroom with a cellphone, taken photos of his anti- retroviral medication and threatened to sell the images.

Later in the interview, the actor said he’d paid upward of $10 million over the years in exchange for silence on his condition, and that his financial situation is “not great.”

The actor pledged to stop paying those unnamed individuals after the Today show interview.

“I think I release myself from this prison today,” he said.

Sheen talks about his supporters and telling his family. Post continues after video:

On whether his diagnosis was linked to his “winning” phase:

Sheen says he spiralled into depression and substance abuse after the HIV diagnosis.

“I was so depressed by the condition I was in that I was doing a lot of drugs, I was drinking too much,” he said.

“It’s a hard three letters to absorb. It’s a turning point in one’s life.”

But when asked whether the diagnosis was linked to his notoriously strange behavior in 2011 — involving a series of bizarre public appearances and tweets using the phrases “tiger blood” and “winning,” as well as an appalling anti-Semitic attack on Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre — he said he could not blame the diagnosis for that behaviour.

“That was more of a ‘roid rage’,” he said.

Sheen was fired from long-running sitcom Two and a Half Men around that time.

On speaking out about stigma surrounding HIV:

When asked whether Sheen felt stigmatised by the condition, he said: “Not any more I don’t.”

The actor also hinted at becoming an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness now he’s gone public with his condition.

“I have a responsibility now to better myself and to help a lot of other people,” he said.

“I’m not going to be the poster man for this, but I will not shun away from this,” he continued.

“I’m approaching… more of a philanthropic time of my life.”

In 2011, the troubled actor appeared on Good Morning America to address rumours he has bipolar disorder. Post continues below:

While there is still no cure for HIV, people with a diagnosis can live long and happy lives if properly treated.

Sheen has long been a major donor to AIDS charities, especially Aid for AIDS.

In 2009, he was awarded the AFA Angel Award, one of only a handful ever handed out, for his support.