Charlie Sheen expected other HIV-positive celebrities to contact him "confidentially".
The 50-year-old actor was diagnosed with the disease four years ago and though he doesn’t know anyone else in the public eye secretly living with the condition, he thought they would discreetly make themselves known to him after he revealed his own HIV status last November.
Asked if he thought there were any other Hollywood stars who were secretly living with HIV, he said: "I don’t know. I sort of thought others would contact me confidentially, but that didn’t happen, that’s their journey. I can only wish them well."
But he revealed he has had "several people" approach him when out in public to thank him for giving their loved ones the confidence to speak about their own HIV diagnoses.
Speaking at a press conference in London, where he was promoting condom brand LELO HEX, he said: "That’s a gift you can’t put a price tag on.
"I don’t see it as being a poster boy [for HIV]. [But] who is there right now to generate this type of attention, and this amount of good will, and this tsunami of awareness? If that’s become one of my roles on this journey, then I’ll take it."
The former ‘Two and a Half Men’ actor – who has a grown-up daughter, Cassandra, with former girlfriend Paula Profit, daughters Sam, 12, and Lola, 11, with second wife Denise Richards, and twin sons Bob and Max, seven, with third spouse Brooke Mueller – is currently single and admits he doesn’t find it easy to get a date.
He said: "I’m not dating, I’m spending a lot of time with my family. Right now I couldn’t get laid in a women’s prison with a handful of condoms.
"It doesn’t give me a great opening line, ‘Hey, I’ve got HIV – busy later?’
"It is what it is, and I don’t want to make light of it, but it changes the whole approach on it, because it’s no longer about my interests and my folly, it’s about the other person, it’s about protecting them and just being open and responsible."
Charlie Sheen expected to hear from famous HIV sufferers
