These celebrities are helping the world by talking openly about their HIV status
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Today is World AIDS Day, and in honor of the vitally important holiday, we’re shouting out the LGBTQ+ celebrities living with HIV who are helping to destigmatize the disease. Some opened up about their status decades ago, and some have shared more recently, but they all use their stories to open people’s hearts and minds.
The AIDS crisis of the 1980s and ‘90s was a dark time in queer history, but since then, medical advances have been made, and the stigma against HIV continues to dwindle every year.
So, to celebrate the 35th annual World AIDs Day, we’re taking a moment to shine a spotlight on the celebrities who continue to fight for people living with HIV all over the world.
Jonathan Van Ness
Jonathan Van Ness, one of the hosts of Netflix’s Queer Eye, was diagnosed with HIV when they were 25, but when the show first started Van Ness wasn’t sure they wanted anyone to know their status. Ultimately, the hair stylist decided being open and vulnerable was worth it and they now lives their life out, proud and in the spotlight.
“When Queer Eye came out, it was really difficult because I was like, ‘Do I want to talk about my status?,” Van Ness said in a New York Times interview in 2019. “And then I was like, ‘The Trump administration has done everything they can do to have the stigmatization of the L.G.B.T. community thrive around me.’” He paused before adding, “I do feel the need to talk about this.”
Mondo Guerra
Mondo Guerra hit it big when he was the runner-up on season 8 of Project Runway, later taking home the big prize on the first season of Project Runway Allstars. The fashion designer was diagnosed with HIV when he was in his twenties, but was willing to risk dying from the disease rather than seek treatment and risk anyone finding out. Years later he decided to come out publicly with his diagnosis on Project Runway and at the viewing party for the episode Guerra raised money for the treatment center that helped him get healthy.
Zachary Willmore
The wildly successful TikTok star Zachary Willmore has already amassed 1.9 million followers on the app, and he’s only 20 years old. In February of this, when he was only a college freshman, Willmore opened up to his TikTok followers and told them he had recently been diagnosed with HIV. He was terrified about what this meant for his life, but now, nine months later, he’s surprised by how little has changed, and both his fans and his family have been supportive. “I’ve been so lucky,” he told Teen Vogue. “HIV has not impacted my life. … Besides taking a pill in the morning, I have been pretty much unchanged.”
Billy Porter
Queer actor Billy Porter first learned he had HIV in 2007 but kept it secret for over a decade because he feared the stigma. Porter finally worked through these feelings while starring in Pose, about the ballroom scene during the AIDS crisis of the '80s and ’90s in New York City. Porter finally broke his silence when he realized he had lived when others had not. “Well, I’m living so that I can tell the story,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s a whole generation that was here, and I stand on their shoulders. I can be who I am in this space, at this time, because of the legacy that they left for me. So it’s time to put my big boy pants on and talk.”
Danny Pintauro
Danny Pintauro spent eight years playing the younger brother on Who’s the Boss? Pintauro was first diagnosed 20 years ago when he was struggling with an addiction to crystal meth. He was terrified people would find out, but in 2015, he decided to be brave and share his HIV status on an episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now, and he’s been open about it ever since.
Charity Kase
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Charity Kase first spoke openly about living with HIV on season three of Drag Race UK. Since then, the fierce queen has used her platform and fame to raise awareness about the virus and the remaining stigma. Two years ago, for World AIDS Day, Kase raised money for the National AIDS Trust to try and change the way HIV is portrayed in the UK. “I like to use the voice that I have to speak up on issues that I think are important and so I did that for HIV as it’s something that I know very well as it’s my experience,” she told the Gay Times.
Trinity K. Bonet
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 star Trinity K. Bonét, revealed her HIV positive status back in 2021 when she was a contestant on Drag Race Allstars. By sharing her story on TV, Bonét has sparked conversation about HIV within the drag community and has helped to normalize it for the viewing audience too.
Javier Munoz
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Gay Broadway icon Javier Muñoz is best known for playing Usnavi de la Vega in the 2008 musical In the Heights and as Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton from 2016 to 2019. Muñoz, who is also a cancer survivor, found out he was HIV positive back in 2002.
“I want to kick the shit out of stigma, and knock it on its fucking teeth,” Muñoz told Plus back in 2016. “I’m tired of its existence. It has no place in 2016, going forward from this day on. Period.”Mykki Blanco
Back in 2015, genderqueer rapper Mykki Blanco revealed on Facebook that they’d been living with HIV since 2011. “Fuck stigma and hiding in the dark,” they wrote in their original post. “No more living a lie,” they added in the comments. Since then, Blanco has been fighting stigma by calling out hypocrisy within the national AIDS organizations that the star says tend to typecast the stars they choose to represent HIV survivors.
Andre De Shields
Andre De Shields is an accomplished actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, and director with 14 Broadway credits, a Tony Award, and an Emmy to his name. After three decades of hiding his status, De Shields came out as HIV positive in 2020.
“First of all, I love myself,” De Shields said in an interview with The Body. “I’m not in love with myself, but I do love myself, because I’ve learned if I can’t love me, how can I love someone else? And I trust myself, which is why my soul is not ready to leave. Because we’re having a good time here. We’ve got things to do, places to go, people to see, things to achieve.”
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