Heather Locklear took to Instagram this week to share an old photo of herself with Charlie Sheen, offering some words of support to him after news leaked that he is HIV positive.
Sheen himself sat down with Matt Lauer on the Today show on Tuesday to talk about the diagnosis, which reportedly came about four years ago. Before that, however, news began to spread online–notably, from TMZ–that Sheen was going to share the personal news, and speculation began to grow about whether his former fiancee and ex-wife had contracted the disease.
Sheen was married to actress Denise Richards until 2005, and the couple had two children together; while Richards has allegedly known for years about Sheen’s diagnosis, he apparently became infected after their divorce in 2005.
While it’s unclear whether Charlie Sheen was intimate with women without telling them about his diagnosis, he was allegedly involved in a lawsuit with a woman who claims he did just that.
Heather Locklear has had a longtime friendship with Sheen since their Spin City days, and her message on Instagram was short but sweet.
Charlie Sheen has been pretty open in recent years about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and about the large amount of money he’s spent on prostitutes (over $50,000 in the early ’90s), but it’s unclear how he contracted the disease. Sheen has been in the headlines quite a bit in the last few years after being fired from Two And A Half Men, filming rants about various topics–including his ex, Richards–and announced he was considering a run for public office.
“Brooke M is a sexy rok star whom I adore D Richards a heretic washed up piglet Shame pile Happy Father’s Day!!!” Charlie Sheen wrote on Twitter earlier this year.