Today's Blind Items - Paranoia

Back in the day, there was this A- list Christian pop singer. Let us call him (AA). At the time this happened he was selling out churches and getting a couple thousand people a night at his concerts. He won multiple Dive Awards and was nominated for some GRAMMY Awards too. One of the members of his band was bordering between HIV+ and full blown AIDS. The disease had definitely started to take its toll on him, but he was still touring and playing and managed to keep up with everyone else.

No one outside the band knew about his diagnosis. If the news ever got out, the singer would be forced to fire the band member. The crowds the singer was playing to would have stayed away in droves. Added into this mix is that the band member was married to a woman who was also HIV+ but not sick at all and never did get sick and is to this day very much alive. I am still very unsure as to how she became HIV+. There is the one story that she got infected by her husband. The other story is that she perhaps made her living doing on the side sex work and became infected that way. Our band member also toured with another group. Whenever he toured with that group, AA and the band member's wife would hook up. This was a long time thing. Whether her motive was to make sure her husband kept his job or because she actually cared for AA, this relationship did go on a long time. 

AA knew the wife was infected, but never used protection with her. Ever. She had convinced him he would be safe. At about the time the band member started getting really sick and couldn't tour any longer, AA and the wife broke things off.

It was a short time after that happened, that AA was asked by his record label to get a life insurance policy that would cover them if he died. AA said sure, and then he was told he would need to have blood drawn for the test. It was then that he freaked out. He didn't want to know if he was infected. He had never thought about it until that moment when it was front and center. He put the test off as long as possible and finally quit his record label just so he didn't have to get his blood drawn. He became paranoid and refused to go on tour. He became a recluse and just left the industry cold turkey. This went on for four or five years and he became more and more withdrawn from society. Then, one day he was driving his car and ended up in a very bad accident. He was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital. When he woke up, he was being given a transfusion. He freaked out. For the first two days he was there, he was waiting for them to tell him the bad news that he was HIV+. He finally worked up the courage to ask the doctor and the doctor told AA that he was definitely not HIV+. AA literally cried for hours at the news. He never did regain his previous fame. He had been away too long and burned too many bridges.