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Support floods in for Gareth Thomas after HIV reveal

BY Shaywaterworth  ·  Sunday Sep 15, 2019

Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas has been shown a lot of support on social media after revealing he is HIV positive on Saturday.

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The 45-year-old was apparently forced to reveal his diagnosis after an unnamed tabloid newspaper discovered his HIV status and sent reporters to his parents’ home.

Thomas, who made 103 appearances for Wales and the British & Irish Lions, has also received praise for vowing to increase the understanding of HIV and “break the stigma” associated with it in an emotional video he posted on Twitter.

After breaking the news of his HIV status the former centre also revealed his marriage of almost three years to husband Stephen.

“I needed to take control of my life. When you have a secret that other people know about it makes you really vulnerable towards them. And I just I felt like I had no control over my own life,” he told the Metro.

“When I first found out that I was going to have to live with HIV, the first thing I thought was straight away: I was going to die.”

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