Former Who’s The Boss child star Danny Pintauro made headlines in 1997 after a tabloid reporter forced him to come out publicly, doing so on his own terms in an interview with the National Enquirer. Now he’s making another announcement for a secret he’s kept for more than a decade according to The Hollywood Reporter:
“I wanted to tell you this a long time ago, but I wasn’t ready — I’m ready now — that I’m HIV positive, and I have been for 12 years,” Pintauro, 39, told Winfrey. “It’s just a big deal. It’s not something that people are talking about right now really.”
Pintauro revealed the news to Oprah Winfrey on her OWN series Oprah: Where Are They Now? and detailed his struggles with crystal meth and how his diagnosis “provided him with a feeling of calm.” He also opened up to Winfrey about his plans now that he is publicly out in the open about his condition and what it could mean for others:
“I missed the opportunity to be a beacon of light for gay kids who were going through what I was going through because I was outed — it wasn’t by choice…
“You’ve spent so much time terrified that you’re going to get it, and then you have it, and you don’t have to be terrified anymore.”
The full interview was clearly an emotional experience and the clip below gives a taste, explaining his motivation for agreeing to come out publicly in 1997 with the National Enquirer.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)