American actor Billy Porter has revealed that he has been living with HIV for 14 years now. The US star was diagnosed in 2007 but said he had since 'lived with that shame in silence'.
He said he was making his condition public now because it's time to grow up and move on. He added that shame is destructive and if not dealt with, and it can destroy everything in its path.
The 51-year-old actor, who who made history by winning an Emmy in 2019 for his role as 'Pray Tell', a character who is HIV-positive, on the acclaimed FX series 'Pose', said he used the part as a 'surrogate' to tell his real-life story.