Everett to refuse treatment for Aids
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.KENNY EVERETT, the TV and radio personality who has the Aids virus, says he will refuse medication if the full- blown disease takes hold so that he can die more quickly.
'I have decided not to take anything when it starts getting hideous because that way I'll go faster,' he said yesterday.
'I'd hate to cling on because I'll be more beautiful and fabulous in my next life. I hope they don't find a cure just after I've spent the last of my pension.'
Mr Everett, 48, whose television comedy shows were hits in the 1980s, is a disc jockey for the London radio station Capital Gold.
He announced he was HIV positive earlier this year and believes he has been infected for at least a decade. Speculation about his health mounted in 1991 when his Russian lover died of Aids.
'I know the horrors of Aids, but what's the point of looking ahead to your death when you can be getting on with something jolly in the meantime?' Mr Everett told Hello] magazine.
He was having a relationship with a man but sex was out of the question because of the virus. He had been celibate for four years.
'Sometimes I think, 'Ooh, it would be nice to have that facility back again', but then I think of something else. It's like the priests used to advise us at training college, to rush off and play rugger as soon as we had any naughty thoughts. Sex can become an obsession and you lose track of everything else.
'The person I am having a personal relationship with is not in showbusiness so he does not want anything in print about him. I have a lot of really nice friends and one rather special one, but we don't do rude things, unfortunately.'
Mr Everett said he had regular medical checks and was fit apart from the HIV virus, so he hoped to be one of the 10 per cent of carriers who do not develop full-blown Aids.
He said HIV had made him more relaxed and philosophical about life. 'I don't really care how I go. I'd hate to live forever and be alive when all my friends have died of old age.'
(Photograph omitted)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments