The xx singer Oliver Sim admits he's been living with HIV since he was 17

ok.co.uk:

The xx singer Oliver Sim has officially gone public with the news that he has been living with HIV since he was 17.The 32 year old musician revealed that he had been living with the diagnosis in "shame and fear" for so long, he felt now was the right time to reveal his HIV status to the world.

Opening up about his diagnoses the singer revealed he had penned the song Hideous to describe how he "felt towards myself" after first getting diagnosed with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) as a teenager.

Sharing the news on Instagram on Monday, Oliver said: "I’ve been living with HIV since I was 17 and it’s played with how I’ve felt towards myself, and how I’ve assumed others have felt towards me, from that age and into my adult life." Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox with OK!'s daily newsletter . "So, quite impulsively, I wrote it on a song called Hideous.

I thought I could release it in the world and be done with it. "After playing the song to my mum, being the protective and wise mum that she is, she gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. "She suggested that I spend some time having conversations with people in my life first. "Either people I hadn’t told yet, or people I had told but hadn’t wanted to talk much further on it." The singer went on to reveal that he had spent the next two years having those "difficult and uncomfortable conversations”, but that ultimately it allowed him to "feel a lot freer" and strengthened his relationship with the people in his life and with himself.