40 Celebs Who Contracted HIV and AIDS
HIV is a viral disease that weakens an individual’s immune system by killing the white blood cells, specifically the CD4 cells. Although there is still no treatment for HIV, anti-retroviral therapy is powerfully effective. An individual diagnosed with HIV can have the same life expectancy as an HIV negative person, with routine care.
Despite the awareness that we now have about HIV, there is still a lot of shame regarding the illness. Nobody is safe from getting this disease if not taken the correct precautions, even the richest of celebrities and people are vulnerable in front of this disease. We have listed 40 stars who had the guts to tell the world about their HIV positive status.
Jonathan Van Ness
Best known for his expertise on hair and beauty in the T.V. show Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness has been HIV positive since he was in his mid-twenties. It was only when his autobiography “Over the Top” was about to be released that he became public with the news. Through his book, he talked about his past trauma of sexual abuse and how that was the initiator of his toxic lifestyle of drug abuse and open sex. The news of being positive led him to change his life for the better and has been clean since then. He worked in the parody of Game of Thrones called Gay of Thrones, which got nominated for Emmy’s three times. Since then, he has starred on Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot.
Jonathan took some time to figure out how to put his life together. He revealed in an interview that the virus was undetectable in his blood given the medical advancements. But, he cannot forget the day he received his HIV diagnosis. After he asked the doctor if he would live until he was 75, her response was anything but funny. His doctor told him that: “I will keep you alive long enough to die of a heart attack or cancer like everyone else,” and started laughing uncontrollably. Despite this not-so-favorable response, Jonathan still thinks that testing positive for HIV liberated him. He is now trying to live every moment to the fullest. He took up ice-skating lessons and gymnastics and is looking forward to fighting HIV. “I absolutely do not think I’d have been as socially aware or conscious or want to make as much of a difference. It gave me a reason to really fight,” Jonathan confirmed.