COMING OUT

Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness Reveals He Is HIV-Positive

The reality star speaks out about his history of addiction and sexual abuse and his HIV diagnosis.

Jonathan Van Ness, the self-described “effervescent, gregarious majestic center-part-blow-dry cotton-candy figure-skating queen” made famous by Netflix’s Queer Eye came out as HIV-positive in an interview published in The New York Times on Saturday. “It’s hard for me to be as open as I want to be when there are certain things I haven’t shared publicly,” Van Ness said, days before the release of his forthcoming memoir, Over the Top. “These are issues that need to be talked about.” The book, called “piercing” by The Times, is available Tuesday. In it, the 32-year-old Van Ness opens up about his childhood sexual abuse, history of drug addiction, and HIV diagnosis at the age of 25, which he described as “devastating.”