Queer Eye’s grooming guru Jonathan Van Ness came out as HIV positive in his new memoir Over The Top, and talks about it in an interview with the New York Times.
Said Van Ness: “I’ve had nightmares every night for the past three months because I’m scared to be this vulnerable with people. … It’s hard for me to be as open as I want to be when there are certain things I haven’t shared publicly. These are issues that need to be talked about.”
Van Ness said he learned he was HIV positive when he was 25 and fainted at the salon while he was working on a customer. When he went to Planned Parenthood the next day for a check-up, he tested positive.
“That day was just as devastating as you would think it would be,” he writes in the book.
Van Ness aid he hopes to correct misperceptions about being HIV positive, telling the NYT: “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 stigmatization of the L.G.B.T. community thrive around me.’ I do feel the need to talk about this.”
And Van Ness tells The Guardian, in a new interview: “It occurred to me: what if everything I’ve ever been through was preparing me for this moment – to be strong enough to share this, and to share it on my own terms. Part of that for me is to process what’s happened, but the bigger part is that I wanted to do something to move the conversation forward in a meaningful way around HIV/Aids, and what it is to live with HIV, and to humanize and normalize a lot of the things I talk about.”
Wrote Van Ness on Instagram: “Having the opportunity to write my book and share my story with you is the most important opportunity I’ve ever had. The first article about the book came out today from the @nytimes & 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.”
