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Who’s the boss star Danny Pintauro grew to fame on the 80’s hit TV show, but the former child star has been keeping a part of his life private for many years. During a recent sit down with Oprah for “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” Pintauro revealed he is HIV Positive. “I wanted to tell you this a long time ago, but I wasn’t ready,” he told Oprah. “I’m ready now, I’m HIV-positive and I have been for 12 years.”
In 1997 Pintauro came out as gay after finding out the Nationals Enquirer released an article outing him. “I was outed. It wasn’t by choice. He learned of his HIV status in 2003. “I was living in New York at the time and completely clueless to the idea that I was positive. I went in for a regular checkup. It was just regular blood work. You go in, and you sort of waited two weeks on pins and needles — or at least I did, because I was just terrified of the idea of getting HIV.”
He also added that he was using meth at the time of his diagnosis. “I was doing crystal meth, which completely ruins your immune system. I’d been doing it at that point very briefly, but it was three weeks or so, off and on. I had just come out of a two-year relationship, and I discovered in that relationship that there was more I wanted to explore sexually. Crystal meth takes away your inhibitions… And if you want to explore that adventurous side, taking the drug is going to put you there. I was experimenting. And believe it or not, I thought that I was being safe in that encounter. I know exactly when it happened.”
Daniel as he now wants to be called has decided he wants to be an activist. He lives in Las Vegas with his husband, Wil Tabares.
