Singer, actor and Broadway star Billy Porter has revealed he has been living with HIV for at least 14 years.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Wednesday, the 51-year-old said he was diagnosed in June 2007 but chose to keep it private.
“I was trying to have a life and a career, and I wasn’t certain I could if the wrong people knew,” explained Porter. “It would just be another way for people to discriminate against me in an already discriminatory profession.”
The HIV diagnosis came in the same year Porter was diagnosed with diabetes and had to file for bankruptcy. "I have lived with that shame in silence for 14 years,” he said.
“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.”
Porter has released several albums and singles and has earned an Emmy (for Pose) as well as a Grammy and Tony (for Kinky Boots). He and Janelle Monáe were also honoured at the inaugural Dorian TV Awards in September for their performance on the 92nd Academy Awards.
Porter married Adam Smith in 2017 after eight years together.