Celebs
21 Most Famous Celebs With HIV
The subject of HIV has sprung up in the media yet again after Charlie Sheen admitted to having been diagnosed as HIV-positive 4 years ago. This brave statement has Sheen become one of the most renowned, if not THE most famous celebrity to be publicly known as HIV-positive. We’re now at a whole different point as regards the social treatment of HIV if we compare it with the state from the 1980s, but there’s still a long way to go – it’s not easy to admit that you carry the disease, especially if you’re a celebrity. Let’s raise our glasses for those brave celebs who had their part in making HIV an acceptable part of a person’s identity.
#21 – Andy Fraser
Via: ultimateclassicrock.com
Fraser founded the classic rock band Free when he was as young as 15 and his career has been skyrocketing since, with the band releasing numerous hits like “The Stealer” or “All Right Now”. Andy’s adult life was all gigs and tours until the 1990s, when the musician was affected by both HIV and Kaposi’s sarcoma, an infrequent cancer. After releasing the last Free album, Naked and Finally Free, Andy Fraser passed away in 2015.
#20 – Chris Smith
Via: mirror.co.uk
He might not be the definition of a celeb, but he’s still very well known – at least in the United Kingdom, where he origins from. A renowned politician, he served as the Shadow Secretary of State in fields like Environment, Media, and Sport. He was the first British MP to admit to being a homosexual (in 1984). In 2005, he caused even more medial commotion after he admitted that he had been HIV positive for 18 years. Smith now works at Cambridge and it doesn’t seem that his disease was the slightest deterrent to his career.
#19 – Eazy-E
Via: highsnobiety.com
Eric Lynn Wright, sometimes deservedly called “Godfather of Gangsta Rap”, was the thing in 1990s if you loved hip hop. The author of Straight Outa Compton, the most provocative album at the time, had the bad luck of catching the HIV virus from one of the countless women that he seduced, many of whom ended up carrying the rapper’s children. It was only a month since his diagnosis when Eazy-E was defeated by the disease and died in 1995.
#18 – Andy Bell
Via: redentertainment.com
The 1980s were the golden era for Andy Bell and his duo partner, Vince Clarke, as their band Erasure released hits like “Chains of Love” and “Always”. “If you’re doing music, you should use it for something and have substance. Being gay and open about it is my substance,” Bell said after coming out of the closet in 1986. After 18 years, he had another piece of news to announce, this time less positive – the musician had struggled with HIV for 6 years. Luckily, the virus hasn’t struck as of yet and Bell is still in sound health.
#17 – Chuck Panozzo
Via: styxtoury.com
Chuck Panozzo is one of the members of Styx, a Chicagoan band that hasn’t stopped rocking since the 70s, having released as many as 15 original albums with successes such as “Mr. Roboto” and “Babe”. Panozzo dealt with all necessary issues at the same time by announcing that he’s both gay and HIV positive in 2001. He’s one of the unlucky ones that are suffering not only from HIV, but also from AIDS. The musician is still performing and also putting a lot of effort into the fight for gay right. “My T-cells are up and I keep up with my prescription. I can’t complain…You have to have goals and faith in yourself,” he says. Inspiring!
#16 – Danny Pintauro
Via: usmagazine.com
Pintauro’s most famous roles included, as far as movies are concerned, that of Paul Ryan in Cujo – but his moment of fame came when he acted in the Who’s The Boss sitcom famous in the 1980s. Having left his acting career, he opened a restaurant in Las Vegas. He came back to the celeb world in 2015 by taking part in an episode of “Oprah: Where Are They Now”, where he admitted to being HIV positive. His statement was one of the most detailed to have ever been released: “Believe it or not, with this guy I was actually safe. We did use condoms. I got it another way, which was through oral sex, which is a complicated story.”
#15 – Robert Reed
Via: pinterest.com
Everyone’s heard of The Brady Bunch, doesn’t matter if your problem’s still acne or wrinkles already. Robert Reed rocked the scene as Mike Brady and also in movies such as Roots or Rich Man, Poor Man. This poor fellow didn’t actually get the chance to admit to the world that he was HIV positive – he lost his battle with colon cancer in 1992, but it was posthumously revealed that he had been also struggling with HIV.
#14 – Arthur Ashe
Via: espn.go.com
According to many, the most successful tennis player of the last half-century, Ashe had an amazing career, at the same time also being one of the most up-and-coming black athletes. With three Grand Slam singles won, he was rewarded by being included in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985. Ashe caught the HIV virus after a blood transfusion gone awry. He would admit to his disease only in 1992, a year before he finally passed away. Shortly before his death, he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS.
#13 – Tom Fogerty
Via: alwaysmountaintime.com
Credence Clearwater Revival is probably the band because of which you will have heard about Tom, although he also played for groups such as The Blue Velvets and The Golliwogs. A musician known for hits such as “Fortunate Son” and “Bad Moon Rising”, he had the same bad luck as Arthur Ashe, contracting the HIV virus as the result of problems during a blood transfusion. In 1990, Fogerty passed away after an infection set in because of his AIDS.
#12 – Robbin Crosby
Via: likesuccess.com
Robbin Crosby was the guitarist of one of the lead metal bands of the 1980s, Ratt. Famous both for the music and for the drama, the group produced hits like “Round and Round” and “Lay It Down”. Crosby was diagnosed with HIV in 1994, which had made its way into all-out AIDS in 2001. Robbin tried to find joy in life after the disease’s onset, but died tragically in 2002, probably due to a heroin overdose.
#11 – Anthony Perkins
Via: silentsandtalkies.blogspot.com
A huge cinematographical star, Perkins starred in classic movies such as The Trial, Murder on the Orient Express and Fear Strikes Out – but his most famous role was that of Norman Bates in Psycho. Perkins had the bad luck of finding out that he had HIV while he was in the middle of Psycho III. He passed away at 60, in 1992, because of a lung disease caused by his AIDS.
#10 – Jim J. Bullock
Via: rantlifestyle.com
Bullock had a rich career in the television. Having started with Too Close for Comfort, he then participated in hits such as Battlestars and ALF. Jim found out that he was HIV positive with the production of The Ted Knight Show under way. Soon afterwards, Bullock was described by a reporter as “in the pink of health”. His response was: “I’m…no. I’m about to die, actually. But let’s not talk about that now, OK?” However, he’s still alive, having outlived his partner, John Casey, whose demise was also caused by AIDS.
#9 – Gene Anthony Ray
Via: theapricity.com
Ray was one of the rare lucky guys of the high school drop-out type – he bailed from school to participate in a casting and he immediately won it and starred in Fame. His career didn’t have too many high points after that, but he will still be remembered for more than just leading a life of a homeless after nobody wanted to use his acting services. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1996 and passed away in 2003 – that’s when we actually found out about his virus thanks to his mother’s openness.
#8 – Amanda Blake
Via: windowssearch-exp.com
There are no more females on our list, but we won’t be calling Amanda Blake lucky. According to her family, it was through Mark Spaeth, the star’s fourth husband, that she contracted the HIV virus. It is widely believed that the Gunsmoke’s star died from oral cancer, but according to her death certificate, a disease caused by AIDS was the actual reason.
#7 – Holly Johnson
Via: vevo.com
The English singer-songwriter is most famous for his role in the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the authors of hits such as “Relax” and “The Power of Love”. Holly found out he had HIV at the very time when his band started to go out of vogue, so it must have been a blow. The star is still alive and he seems to be doing well, having dropped both cigarettes and alcohol.
#6 – Greg Louganis
Via: crossingthelinesport.com
This incredible athlete has four Olympic medals under his belt and to that, a terrible accident for which everyone remembers him – Greg suffered a hideous hit on the diving board in 1988, but still came out on top over all his rivals. Louganis waited 7 long years before he let the public know that he was HIV positive and being sincere wasn’t a good decision – many sponsors decided to cut the cooperation with him soon after his statement. Louganis is still alive and helps many LGBT and HIV help organizations.
#5 – Rudy Galindo
Via: ohmygodot.blogspot.com
The excellent figure skater is yet another HIV positive athlete. Galindo’s golden era was in the 80s and the 90s when he won various remarkable competitions. Just at the apex of his fame, in 1995, Galindo came out and admitted that his older brother had died from AIDS. In 2000, Galindo Junior also gave a statement saying he was also HIV positive; fortunately, he’s still alive and kicking, although he doesn’t reveal too much information on his private life to the press.
#4 – Jerry Herman
Via: jerryherman.tumblr.com
Jerry Herman is THE composer that even a Broadway laic will have heard of. His composition found their place in renowned musicals such as La Cage aux Folles or Mame. He garned many a musical award over two decades after he decided to get his bucket list done with, having found of that he had HIV and concluded that his life was soon to perish. Fortunately, Herman is still alive and her experimental medication to thank.
#3 – Magic Johnson
Via: biography.com
A huge star of basketball, Earvin Johnson started his career in his home state of Michigan and quickly climbed his way to NBA right from college basketball. When Magic admitted that he had HIV in the 1980s, he changed the society’s view on how supposedly only homosexuals were to be affected by the virus. Magic has the luck of being one of the most successfully treated HIV patients – the medicine has worked marvels on him and no symptoms affect him anymore.
#2 – Andrew Sullivan
Via: talkingpointsmemo.com
Andrew Sullivan is mostly recognized as a political commentator with his view on the right side of the spectrum. A graduate of the Oxford University and a holder of a Harvard Ph.D., this extremely smart fellow has recently retired from media work. The British immigrant into the United States has been HIV positive for years and never tried to hide it. Fortunately, his health seems to be doing great and Andrew spends his time fighting for equality.
#1 – Charlie Sheen
Via: gazettereview.com
It was announced in November that Sheen has HIV; he was THE movie star of the 1980s and the 1990s, giving excellent performances in Two and a Half Men and Anger Management. “I think that I release myself from this prison today,” he said, as he released the information to the public. He has already spent huge sums of money on making it with the disease somehow and we will be waiting to find out where the future takes him.