Charlie Sheen didn’t publicly confirm that he tested positive for HIV until this week, but it must have been known around Hollywood for some time because it was joked about in a Sony email sent over a year ago.
According to TheWrap, an email, found on WikiLeaks’ database of the Sony emails that leaked last year, shows a Sony executive joking about it on March 10, 2014.
“I think I will win the 90/10 bet on the over under on this,” the executive wrote. “It's hard to to be a drug addict and be HIV positive and do 40 eps a year.”
The email includes a link to a TV Week report from that same day about trouble on the set of Anger Management, the FX series Sheen made after he was fired from Two and a Half Men.
The executive is referring to the “10/90” deal that Anger was produced under. If the show reached certain ratings thresholds during its first 10 episodes, FX would automatically order 90 more episodes from Lionsgate so the show could be syndicated. While Anger did get the “back-90” order, its ratings weren’t that good and the show was cancelled in December 2014, after all 100 episodes were produced.
Sheen announced Tuesday morning on the Today Show that he is HIV-positive, but does not have AIDS. The actor admitted that he has spent $10 million to keep the diagnosis from reaching the public over the past four years.