In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Billy Porter commented that “having lived through the plague, my question was always: ‘Why was I saved? Why am I living?'”, to which he replied to himself: “Well, I am living to tell the story. A whole generation that was here and I lean on their shoulders.”
“I can be who I am in this space, right now, because of the legacy they left me. So it’s time to put on my big boy pants and talk. I was the generation that was supposed to know best, and it happened of all. modes “, expressed Porter, while sharing that 2007 was “the worst year of my life.”
The actor is clear that “I was on the brink of darkness for about a decade”, but that particular 2007 meant a year of bad news after another. “In February, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In March, I signed the bankruptcy papers. And in June, I was diagnosed with HIV positive,” recalled Billy Porter.
In an exercise of honesty, the man indicated the reason why he did not want to share his diagnosis: “The shame of that time aggravated by the shame that had already (accumulated) in my life made me shut up, and I have lived with that shame in silence for 14 years. ”