Published 18:19 IST, September 22nd 2019
Jonathan Van Ness of 'Queer Eye' fame reveals he is HIV positive
The 32-year-old cast member of the online streaming platform of Netflix's Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness, shared that he is HIV positive in an interview
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The 32-year-old cast member of the online streaming platform of Netflix's Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness, shared that he is HIV positive in an interview on September 21. He further added that he hoped to clear any misconceptions about being HIV positive and was happy about being a part of a wonderful HIV positive community.
A childhood filled with pain
In his interview, he revealed that he was sexually assaulted as a child and in addition to that he stated that a lot of people who have gone through the cases of sexual assault have a lot of aggravated trauma. Through treatment, Van Ness later understood that sexual abuse pushed him to destructive practices. He shared that initially, he engaged in sexual relations with men he met on the web, and when he was in his first year of school he promoted sex for cash on Gay.com to compensate for spending through cash from his mom on cocaine. Van Ness later dropped out of school, went to an 11-month beautification program and started working at hair parlors. Regardless he battled with chronic drug use in his mid-20s and went to recovery twice for smoking methamphetamine. He said he relapsed multiple times. However, he has not done hard drugs in years.
Van Ness revealed that when he was 25, he went to Planned Parenthood in after encountering flu-like side effects, and tested positive for H.I.V.
'A Raw Journey to Self-Love'
He wrote in his memoir, Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love, that particular day was similarly as devastating as one would suspect it would be. He further added that when Queer Eye released, it was a difficult time for him because he was not clear about what he wanted to do about his status. He further added that it was time to come out and talk about is as the Trump-led government had done everything possible to restrict the freedom of the LGBT community around him.
A lot of people came out in support of Jonathan and congratulated him for coming out and sharing his story.
Padma Lakshmi thanked the Queer Eye star
Thank you @jvn. You are helping so many in the HIV+ community by being your beautiful self. https://t.co/nvmEEbr0nx
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) September 21, 2019
The National Aids Trust also spoke in favor of the Netflix star.
All our love to @jvn, who’s told the world he’s a member of the “beautiful HIV-positive community”. Thank you Jonathan for sharing your story - you’re proof that you can live healthily and fabulously with HIV 🙌 https://t.co/ctxNo5GC1v pic.twitter.com/C72oqkx0hh
— National AIDS Trust (@NAT_AIDS_Trust) September 21, 2019
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14:51 IST, September 22nd 2019