'Queer Eye' star Jonathan Van Ness reveals he is HIV positive: 'An out-and-proud member of the beautiful community'
Jonathan Van Ness, the resident grooming expert on Netflix's hit show 'Queer Eye' spoke for the first time about being HIV positive and a sexual assault survivor and his struggle with addiction. He was speaking to The New York Times ahead of the release of his memoir 'Over the Top.'
Describing himself as “an out-and-proud member of the beautiful HIV positive community," the 32-year-old hairdresser said he tested positive at the age of 25. He took the test at a Planned Parenthood center after fainting from flu-like symptoms while doing a client's hair. "That day was just as devastating as you would think it would be," he writes in his book. Speaking about his decision to talk about his status, he said: “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 to have the stigmatization of the LGBT community thrive around me' [so] I do feel the need to talk about this."
However, the decision was not an easy one for the 'Queer Eye' star who has also earned three Emmy nominations for his 2013 parody series, 'Gay of Thrones.' He revealed in the interview that he had been having nightmares about his memoir's forthrightness because he was "scared to be this vulnerable with people.” In the book, Van Ness also writes about how he was abused by an older boy from church, during a 'make-believe play session', when he was very young. Feeling "too fat, too femme, too loud and too unlovable" during his high school years, Van Ness would turn to food, drugs and high-risk sex. In his memoir, Van Ness talks about spending hours on AOL chat rooms and meeting up with older men for sex when he was an underage teenager. When he was in his early 20s, Van Ness used methamphetamine and went to rehab twice, and when he was short of money he “advertised sex for money on Gay.com."
In an Instagram post, Van Ness wrote about his memoir: "Having the opportunity to write my book and share my story with you is the most important opportunity I’ve ever had. I’m relieved I can speak fully about the things that shape my experience in life. The book speaks to some extremely difficult times but it’s also filled with my humor, joy, and voice & I can’t wait to share it with you fully. Thanks so much for your support so far, it means the world."