Pose star Billy Porter has revealed that he’s been living with HIV for more than a decade.
“The shame of that time compounded with the shame that had already (accumulated) in my life silenced me, and I have lived with that shame in silence for 14 years,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “HIV-positive, where I come from, growing up in the Pentecostal church with a very religious family, is God’s punishment.”
The star says that thanks to modern science, he’s able to live a healthy life and that the virus is almost undetectable thanks to his medication.
“This is what HIV-positive looks like now,” he said. “I survived so that I could tell the story. That’s what I’m here for,” he said. “I’m the vessel, and emotionally that was sufficient — until it wasn’t. It’s time to grow up and move on because shame is destructive — and if not dealt with, it can destroy everything in its path.”
