Magic Johnson Remembers His Wife's Reaction To His HIV Diagnosis
Magic Johnson Remembers His Wife’s Reaction To His HIV Diagnosis
Magic Johnson is one of the most successful basketball players of all time, earning five NBA championships and making sound business moves that made him a billionaire in 2023.
While his life has been full of accomplishments, the one challenge Johnson had to overcome was coming to terms with having HIV. He contracted the virus in 1991, and 34 years to the day he announced his status, he sat down on The Jennifer Hudson Show to recount how he broke the news to his wife, Cookie.
“I wasn’t worried about me as much; I was worried about Cookie. She was pregnant with our son EJ, and so how was it going to affect her?” Johnson said.
While he did hold a press conference to announce it to the league and his subsequent retirement, it was telling her that he fought the most.
“When I came home to tell Cookie the news, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life, not to play against Michael [Jordan] or Larry [Bird], but to tell my wife I had HIV,” he said.
Johnson remembers that the first thing Cookie said when he told her the news was, “‘Let’s drop down on our knees and start praying.’”
It was that attitude that Johnson says uplifted their spirits, as he added, “so God has really blessed both of us.”
The 12-time All-Star used his diagnosis to help change the stigma of HIV, including thinking that it only affected the LGBTQ community and drug users.
It became his new purpose, as he pushed for people to get tested regularly, and even started the Magic Johnson Foundation weeks after the announcement to keep the conversation going and educate the Black community.
“I wanted to make sure I went out and was able to speak about it, especially in the Black and brown community, because the numbers were running very high,” he added. “I went to a lot of churches, I went to a lot of schools, and I made sure I raised the awareness level of HIV and AIDS, and I’m happy I was able to do just that.”
Cookie’s faith-rooted belief that Johnson would “be here a long time” has proved true as he remained an integral figure in the sports world, holding ownership stakes in teams like his beloved Los Angeles Lakers, Dodgers, and Aces.
Magic Johnson Remembers His Wife’s Reaction To His HIV Diagnosis was originally published on cassiuslife.com
