The stars of Queer Eye have thrown their support behind Jonathan Van Ness for opening up on living with HIV.
The 32-year-old is hoping to break the stigma around the condition and smash common misconceptions by sharing his own experience in his new book Over The Top.
Jonathan recalls the ‘devastating’ moment he was told he was HIV positive when he was 25 years old.
Addressing his book on Instagram, he explained he was ‘scared of being so vulnerable about his life with people’ in the book, but his pals have rallied around him – telling Jonathan how ‘proud’ they are of him for sharing his story.
Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski commented on Jonathan’s post: ‘Love you proud of you.’
Bobby Berk followed suit and said: ‘Love you baby boy. So proud of you,’ while Tan France added: ‘LOVE YOU, JACKI.’
An extract from Jonathan’s memoir was published in the New York Times, where he reveals he had fainted while working at a hair salon and went to Planned Parenthood the next day, where he was given his diagnosis.
‘That day was just as devastating as you would think it would be,’ he wrote.
Describing himself as a ‘member of the beautiful HIV positive community’, he told the publication: ‘When Queer Eye came out, it was really difficult because I was like, “Do I want to talk about my status?
‘And then I was like, “The Trump administration has done everything they can do to have the stigmatisation of the LGBT community thrive around me”.
‘I do feel the need to talk about this.’
Jonathan first found fame thanks to his hilarious Game Of Thrones recaps, Gay Of Thrones, back in 2013 and later auditioned for Netflix series Queer Eye, which debuted on the streaming service in 2018.
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