Magic & Cookie Johnson
Magic Johnson Talks to Cookie Johnson About Telling His Wife About His HIV Diagnosis: He Hated To Hurt Her
Magic JohnsonHe opened up about the time he discovered he had HIV. In a joint interview, he and his wife discussed HIV status. Cookie Johnson, NBA legend Irving ‘Magic’ Johnson, 66, explains the ‘pressure’ he felt revealing his diagnosis to his wife.
Magic & Cookie Johnson celebrate 25th wedding anniversary in Venice
In his interview with Gayle King. Magic JohnsonAccording to
“It was hard because I loved her so much and I hated to hurt her. I’ve played against some of the best basketball players in the world, right? I’ve been in championships. I’ve been in nine [NBA]Finals, I know the pressure. But there was no greater pressure than driving home to tell her.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZFX8N_u9Tw
Magic was informed in 1991 that he had HIV. This was just one month after they were married. Explaining he was ‘scared to death’ to tell her, the former Laker adds,
“The key moment was when Cookie took the test and the results came back that she and the baby were fine.”
He continues:
“I wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay, the baby was going to be okay, and then I can move forward with making sure I was going to be okay.”
After learning that her husband had contracted the disease, she was devastated. Cookie says she was more worried about him dying, which ‘trumped everything.’ CookieShe stood by her husband and was supportive, but she admits that she was against this press conference. She said,
“At that time, people weren’t educated so they thought you couldn’t touch people. You couldn’t hug people. And I didn’t want people to treat us like we were lepers.”
Magic Cookie JohnsonThey have been married for over 30 years and have three children together. Andre, 40 EJ, 29, EliseThe couple adopted a 3-year-old boy named ‘Baby’.
Magic & Cookie with their family on the Steve Harvey Show.
Magic Johnson’s HIV is currently undetectable however the former Laker has to take medication daily to keep it under control.
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