#16 – Danny Pintauro
Who’s the boss? Though younger audiences may not remember Danny Pintauro, others know him as Jonathan Bower on the sitcom Who’s the Boss? running from 1984 to 1992 starring Tony Danza.
First appearing on television in the soap opera As the World Turns, Pintauro also gained fame for his performance as Paul Ryan in Cujo.
Currently working as a restaurant manager in Las Vegas, Pintauro appeared on a 2015 episode of “Oprah: Where Are They Now” when he revealed that he had HIV.
In the shocking interview, Pintauro went into great detail and told Oprah, “Believe it or not, with this guy I was actually safe. We did use condoms. I got it another way, which was through oral sex, which is a complicated story.” While it’s a rare way to contract the virus, Pintauro said that it was a mix of different factors that created the perfect storm for his diagnosis in 2003.
#15 – Robert Reed
“Here’s the story, of a man named Brady…” Whether you’re young or old, everyone knows Robert Reed as Florence Henderson’s husband, Mike Brady, on The Brady Bunch. Aside from managing six Brady children on screen from 1969 to 1974, Reed also had memorable and award-winning roles on Medical Center, Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man.
Reed was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1991 but that wasn’t the whole story. In May 1992, Reed passed away at the age of 59 with many assuming that cancer took his life. However, his death certificate revealed otherwise as the world learned that Reed had HIV. Valuing his privacy and avoiding unwanted publicity, Reed only told a few close friends of his diagnosis. It was only after his death that they realized Reed had lived his life privately as a gay man.
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