Today, Charlie Sheen announced in a one-on-one interview
with Matt Lauer that he was diagnosed HIV positive. He has known about his
disease for years but hid it from the media by paying out almost 10 million
dollars to trustees keeping it a secret. Throughout the course of the
interview, Charlie Sheen described his initial thoughts. He said “I had
constant headaches, I thought I had a brain tumor, I thought this was the end” but
after being diagnosed with HIV he felt the need to keep that an even deeper
secret. Now, Sheen is no polished person of society, he has had his meltdowns,
most notably the argument with his writers for ‘Two and a Half Men” but since
they he has gone down hill with his disorder. Now Charlie Sheen doesn’t intend
to keep it a further secret, but he states also that he won’t become a poster
man for the cause, but that instead he will do his responsibilities to help and
educate others.
Charlie Sheen’s HIV outcoming can relate to the 1980s and
90s when the virus exploded in America
in the gay community. Many controversies started up in New
York and San Francisco
that HIV/AIDS was a disease spread through gay men as 41 of the original 56
victims were gay men. Case studies with the infected gay men and healthy gay
men became a pocket-busting research project. The funding for finding the cure
went up exponentially, as the disease actually intimidating people by striking
fear of dying from the horrid disease into donating. To this day HIV and AIDS has
a strong percentage in the LGBTQ+ community, but has spread to others as well.
The studies conducted predicted this would happen and were scared about the
viruses outcome, but through the 20+ years of studying antibiotics have been
created and help many suffering to this day with the disease. Also the disease
has been brought to the silver screen and Netflix with movies such as “The
Normal Heart” about a group of gay men who were subjects for research with the
HIV/AIDS virus. The movies highlighting this issue to the public media can also
connect to Sheen highlighting the issue with his own diagnosis.
SOURCE:
SOURCE: http://www.today.com/health/charlie-sheen-reveals-hes-hiv-positive-today-show-exclusive-t56391
I think that it is really brave of Charlie Sheen to talk about his condition and share his experience with the world. But I also hope that one day, having HIV will be something that people won't feel needs to be kept a secret. I don't understand why there is any shame involved in having HIV. People with cancer do not feel ashamed, so why should people with HIV?
ReplyDeleteI also agree I think it's very brave of Charlie Sheen to talk about HIV and share his journey to us and hopefully this can help other victims of HIV.
ReplyDeleteTea Perez 1st period
Coming out with this diagnosis was obviously a big deal for him considering he was willing to go to such extremes to hide it. I honestly don't blame him though. I would hate strangers knowing and discussing my personal life, asking intrusive questions, and taking unflattering pictures with even more unflattering headlines. So, yes I agree that it was brave of him to do this and I'm glad that he released this information on his own time, based on what he was most comfortable with rather than what would make the paparazzi the most money.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was brave of him to come forth and even braver to take a bold stand on educating people about HIV. Also we shouldn't judge people by when and if they decide to announce their diagnosis, particularly celebrities. Freddie Mercury didn't announce that he had AIDS until a day before he died, and his reason for doing so was complicated and unique to him. HIV/AIDS are delicate topics, and their sufferers may have many complicated and very personal reasons for withholding their diagnosis, so we can't jump to conclusions.
ReplyDelete