Conchita Wurst Reveals HIV+ Status After Threat

The BBC reports:

Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst says she is HIV positive, and has been receiving regular treatment for “several years”. The 29-year-old star said she had intended to keep the information private, but an ex-boyfriend had “threatened to go public”.

“I will not give anyone the right to frighten me and influence my life,” she wrote on Instagram. “Coming out is better than being outed by a third party.”

Wurst added that regular treatment had suppressed the virus to the extent it could no longer be detected in her blood – and could no longer be passed on. “I hope to give others courage and to take another step against the stigmatization of people who, through their own behaviour or that of others, have become infected with HIV,” she added.

The Instagram post is in German.