In a current interview Joined by BBC’s Katty Kay, NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson recalled his journey with HIV after announcing his diagnosis in 1991.
“Everything was going well, and then this devastating news comes,” Johnson told Kay. At the time, Johnson was a star player for the Los Angeles Lakers and led the team to 5 championship victories between 1980 and 1988.
Johnson shared his doctor’s advice with Kay: “Be positive and accept that you will have HIV for the rest of your life. Take your medication every day and exercise.” “If you do those three things, you’re giving yourself a chance,” he recalled being instructed.
Johnson, now 64, had just married Cookie Johnson, who was pregnant on the time, two months before he announced his HIV diagnosis, Kay emphasized within the interview.
“The longest journey of my life was going home and telling Cookie I had HIV,” Johnson said. She slapped him within the face when he told her, but assured him they’d get through it together.
His diagnosis threatened not only his personal life but additionally his profession. The 1992 NBA All-Star Game and the Barcelona Olympics were approaching – and players didn’t wish to be on the court with Johnson, he said. They were also afraid of contracting HIV, because the disease and its transmission were still heavily stigmatized and misinformed within the early Nineties.
The late David Stern, former NBA commissioner, helped change Johnson’s profession trajectory. Stern’s decision to let Johnson play within the 1992 All-Star Game proved that coping with HIV-positive people was protected – and that Johnson was still at the height of his game.
Stern’s decision “not only changed the minds of basketball players, it changed the whole world,” Johnson told Kay.
Stern’s support of Johnson’s profession continued until the 1992 Olympics, where he personally chosen Johnson for the 10-man United States team. he said Kay.
“When I got the call that I was one of the guys who got to play, I screamed and yelled,” Johnson said in an interview. “It was the best moment of my life, especially coming out of retirement and HIV. [diagnosis]“It was a great honor to represent my country, the Lakers and my family.”
This “dream team”, because it was called, would dominate the Olympic Gamesremained undefeated and won gold.
But while Johnson was riding the high of the Games, he was struggling financially. Professional athletes often depend on sponsors to make a living, and after he shared his diagnosis, several sponsors dropped him, he said.
Johnson, nevertheless, didn’t regret making his diagnosis public. “It made me feel good,” he told Kay. “I wanted to help people.”
He met with individuals who had been diagnosed with HIV and were afraid to discuss it, while also educating others who may need the disease.
In 1991, Johnson founded the Magic Johnson Foundationwhose mission is to develop programs that promote AIDS/HIV education, treatment and prevention.
“I was on a mission,” Johnson said.
Johnson has grow to be a central voice in destigmatizing HIV and AIDS. Kay said she called Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He told her that “Johnson has done more than almost anyone else to remove the stigma” around AIDS.
