10 celebrities who have been open about being HIV positive

Charlie Sheen, Jonathan Van Ness, and Magic Johnson.Craig Barritt, Don Arnold, and Roy Rochlin / Getty

• Since the HIV and AIDS crisis in the 1980s, stars have come forward to reveal they are HIV positive.
• Today, Jonathan Van Ness, Magic Johnson, and Charlie Sheen are living with HIV.
• "I think the thing that surprises most people is just that it's a chronic illness and that it's not a terminal one," Van Ness told Insider reporter Rachel Hosie.

It's been almost four decades since the HIV and AIDS crisis began, and today there are still 1.2 million people living with HIV in the US.

Throughout the years, celebrities have come out to identify themselves as part of that statistic, giving a face to the virus and sharing the reality of living with the diagnosis. Stars like Freddie Mercury and Rock Hudson died from AIDS — the syndrome caused by HIV — while Magic Johnson and Jonathan Van Ness are living with HIV today.

Here are celebrities who have spoken out about their HIV diagnosis.