Pose star Billy Porter reveals he has been living with HIV for 14 years

Actor Billy Porter has shared that he has been living with HIV for 14 years. Opening up about his illness for the first time, the star of TV hit Pose has revealed his private health battle in a new interview.

The 51-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter how 2007, the year of his diagnosis, was the worst year of his life. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the February, was bankrupt by March and tested positive for HIV in June.

He described how he discovered he had a health problem after a pimple grew larger, eventually beginning to hurt. Whilst visiting the medical centre, he undertook a HIV test, which later returned as positive.

In TV drama Pose, which portrays New York’s African-American and Latino Drag Ball culture, Billy plays a HIV-positive character, a role which saw him receive an Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Upon receiving the award, Billy became the first openly gay Black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category in the history of the Primetime Emmys.

Billy said: ‘I was able to say everything that I wanted to say through a surrogate’, referring to his character in Pose.

He added: ‘For a long time, everybody who needed to know, knew — except for my mother. I was trying to have a life and a career, and I wasn’t certain I could if the wrong people knew. It would just be another way for people to discriminate against me in an already discriminatory profession. ‘So I tried to think about it as little as I could. I tried to block it out. But quarantine has taught me a lot. Everybody was required to sit down and shut the f**k up.’

Billy also explained how initially he wanted to wait until his mother had died to share the news of his diagnosis with the world but decided to tell her on the last day of shooting Pose with the third and final series of the show airing this Summer.

He added: ‘But look at me. Yes, I am the statistic, but I’ve transcended it. This is what HIV-positive looks like now. I’m going to die from something else before I die from that.

‘My T-cell levels are twice yours because of this medication. I’m the healthiest I’ve been in my entire life. So it’s time to let all that go and tell a different story. There’s no more stigma — let’s be done with that. It’s time. I’ve been living it and being in the shame of it for long enough.’

Billy is a hugely successful actor and is just an Oscar away from completing the set, having already received Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. He received a Tony in 2013 for his performance in musical Kinky Boots, a Grammy for the show’s soundtrack and his Emmy for his work in Pose.

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