When one of the 20th century’s most famous rock stars Freddie Mercury was shooting this music video in May of 1991, only the singer himself and a small group of people around him knew about his diagnosis.
By that time Mercury’s AIDS was in its terminal stage. Freddie’s internal organs were failing and he looked so exhausted, that his fellow Queen band members decided to convert the music video into black and white to disguise the disturbing visuals.
“I still love you” — this soft whisper at the end of the clip became Mercury’s final message to his fans. He succumbed to AIDS at his home in November of 1991, hours after publically admitting his diagnosis.
“Because of the HIV virus that I have obtained I will have to retire from the Lakers”
And this is NBA basketball legend Magic Johnson, speaking at a press conference the same year — in 1991. Even though sceptics thought Johnson didn't have much time left, the athlete returned to the court several months later and also became spokesperson for HIV prevention initiatives, including his own charity – the Magic Johnson Foundation. Thanks to modern medicine, the athlete’s illness did not evolve into full-blown AIDS. So here is Johnson, 20 years later, speaking at an LA Times Event, about the things that besides medicine helped keep him alive:
"This is the reason that I was fighting so hard: I've always wanted to see my kids grow up. I've always wanted, hopefully, to be grandfather. And I wanted also, I kept saying to my baby Elisa — I wanted to walk her down the aisle one day. So, so far, knock-on-wood, I've survived this."
Even though modern types of therapy cannot kill the core of the HIV virus, there are at least 30 antiretroviral drugs on the market that can slow down the virus replication and prevent the onset of AIDS. And as the search for the cure continues, there’s hope for millions of people living with HIV, including celebrities like Magic Johnson, that someday their illness will be gone.
