Austrian drag icon Conchita Wurst has opened up about living HIV – to thwart alleged attempts to expose her status publicly. The former Eurovision winner, real name Tom Neuwirth, spoke for the first time on Monday about their HIV status in an emotional German-language Instagram post. Wurst wrote: “I have been HIV-positive for many years. This is actually irrelevant to the public, but an ex-boyfriend has threatened to go public with this private information, and I will not give anyone the right to frighten me and influence my life in the future. Wurst added: “I have been in medical treatment since I was diagnosed, and for many years [my viral load] has been under the detection limit, so I am not able to pass on the virus. “I did not want to go public with it for a couple of reasons, two of which I will mention here: the most important one was my family, who have known and supported me unconditionally since day one. “I would have gladly spared you the attention of the HIV status of your son, grandson “I would have gladly spared you the attention of the HIV status of your son, grandson.
“I would have gladly spared you the attention of the HIV status of your son, grandson and brother.“Likewise, my friends have been aware of this for quite some time and are dealing with it in the non-judgemental way that I would hope everyone else will. “Secondly, it is information that I believe is mainly relevant to those people with whom I could have sexual contact.”