Martin Sheen on son Charlie Sheen's HIV announcement: 'We were behind him'

Charlie Sheen, left, and his father Martin Sheen present the best supporting actress in a miniseries or movie award during the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles August 27, 2006. REUTERS

Martin Sheen, 75, said he was in awe of his son’s courage after 50-year-old Charlie Sheen revealed on the “Today” show Tuesday that he is HIV positive.

"This morning, as I watched him alone reveal his deepest, darkest secret, I couldn't believe the level of courage I was witnessing, and that it was my son," Martin Sheen said at the eighth annual CME Group's Global Financial Leadership Conference, according to the Naples Daily News.  "I left him a message, and I said that if I had that much courage, I would change the world."

Martin Sheen said that his son’s plan to go public had been in the works for some time.

"He had been leading up to this sort of story for several months, and we kept encouraging him to do it," he said. "He kept backing away and backing away because it was like going to his own execution, I guess."

The former “West Wing” star said Charlie Sheen’s sit-down was “the most difficult thing he’d ever done.”

"We didn't know until he walked on the set this morning that he was going to do it," Marin Sheen said. "I saw him Saturday night, my wife and I went to see him, to make sure he knew we were behind him, and if he wanted me to go, I would have canceled this event. He said, no, this was his and his alone."

He said he expects the revelation will be life-changing for his party-boy son.

"When someone comes to [himself], they have the moment of clarity, and they reveal their secrets — which all of us have — in public, it is a great sense of relief. It is a miraculous occasion,” the Golden Globe winner professed. "I hope that this day is the first day of the rest of Charlie's life as a free man."

Click here to read more from the Naples Daily News.

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