Conchita Wurst, who won the Eurovision Song Contest for Austria in 2014, has HIV. That the singer herself announced on Instagram.
Conchita Wurst is the artist identity of Thomas Neuwirth. She writes forced to make her diagnosis known after an ex-friend had threatened to make public that she was infected with the virus.
“Today I release myself from the sword of Damocles: I have been HIV-positive for years,” writes the 29-year-old singer on Instagram . “This is actually not relevant to the outside world, but I do not give anyone the right to scare me and influence my life.”
The Eurovision star says that it is under treatment and therefore has low HIV levels in its blood for years. She would therefore not be able to transmit the virus.
Friends and family of Conchita have always been aware of her diagnosis. “I would like to have saved you the attention that the HIV status of your son, grandson and brother brings,” she writes to her family who says she “unconditionally supports” her.
Her friends also praise them for the way they deal with their contamination: “in an unbiased way that I would wish everyone else.”