Yahoo News 'Eggheads' star CJ de Mooi shares video thanking fans after revealing Aids battle
CJ de Mooi, most famous as a top quizzer on the BBC’s Eggheads, has shared a video thanking his fans as he starts a new treatment for Aids, just days after revealing he may not have long to live.
The quiz maestro and actor also revealed he fainted in hospital after undergoing a blood test as part of his new treatment programme.
Read more: De Mooi reveals homelessness fears
The 49-year-old told fans on Twitter earlier this week that, after a 30 year battle with Aids, “the agony of the last 3 years means I may not have many left”.
Yesterday, a friend of the star who is helping him to manage his social media presence said he was “always positive” and due to “start a new course of treatment”.
Let’s all just cheer up a bit please! CJ is always positive and will start posting his morning videos again soon as people really miss them.
He goes to hospital tomorrow to start a new course of treatment so we’ll keep smiling and enjoy the sunny weather shan’t we?— CJ de Mooi (@cjdemooi) April 22, 2019
De Mooi posted a brief video this morning, dressed in a beanie hat as he prepared to undergo hospital treatment.
He said: “Good morning, I’m at the hospital so hopefully going to have a good day.
“But more importantly, you are amazing. So go out there and have the amazing day you deserve.”
In subsequent tweets, he revealed that his husband and friends have received negative comments on social media in recent days and thanked the NHS staff who tended to him when he fainted in a hospital corridor.
Good morning 💛#TuesdayThoughts #positivethinking pic.twitter.com/8R33xEKZC9
— CJ de Mooi (@cjdemooi) April 23, 2019
I’m afraid I’ll never again discuss my husband, friends or colleagues.
They’ve received abuse just because of their relationship to me and protecting them is my priority.
If you’re hurting or angry enough to be abusive, please just talk to me and I’ll help if I can. Be kind 💚— CJ de Mooi (@cjdemooi) April 23, 2019
I had a blood test at the hospital this morning… and promptly fainted!
Had to lie down in a corridor while the nurses did everything they could for me.
The NHS is, in my opinion, the greatest ever achievement of this country.
My heartfelt thanks to everyone who works there 💚— CJ de Mooi (@cjdemooi) April 23, 2019
De Mooi was one of the resident quiz titans on BBC show Eggheads from 2003 until 2016, when he was sacked from the show in the wake of allegations he sexually assaulted a man in a nightclub.
Police later told the star, whose real name is Joseph Connagh, that they would be taking no further action against him.
Read more: Quiz show star says she may quit TV
He also attracted controversy in 2015 following a story in his memoir My Journey from the Streets to the Screens, in which he said he believed he had killed a man after throwing him into an Amsterdam canal in 1988.
De Mooi appeared in a Dutch court on allegations related to the incident, but the European Arrest Warrant was dismissed after the authorities admitted making “basic errors” in their investigation.
