Gareth Thomas admits fearing his brother would not let him hug his niece after HIV diagnosis

Rugby star Gareth Thomas has described how he feared his HIV diagnosis would alienate him from his family.

The former Welsh captain, 45, said he was worried his brother would be fearful of him hugging his niece after finding out he is living with the virus.

During an interview with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning, Thomas became emotional about his diagnosis, which he spoke about publicly for the first time over the weekend.

He said: “It is not connected to death, it is connected to life and living with [HIV]. And that is what I’m doing, I’m living life to the maximum. I’m not afraid anymore, I’m not scared, you can come after me, but I fight.

He later added: “I didn’t want my brother, who didn’t have the knowledge of it [HIV], to be afraid of me cuddling my niece… but I just thought because they didn’t know they’re going to be afraid of that.”

Thomas said in a video earlier this week that he had been forced to reveal the diagnosis after an unnamed tabloid publication obtained information about it.

When Phil questioned whether the blackmail he faced was financially motivated, Thomas responded:“I was being asked for a lot of things, a lot of things that I couldn’t physically deliver.

“When someone demands something from you and you don’t give it, all that happens is that it goes up and up and up. Until you think ‘Do you know what? Whatever you’ve got to do, do it. But if they do it, they’ll no longer have that control over you.’”

The sportsman has been praised by celebrities and politicians for speaking about the diagnosis – including Prince Harry.

Thomas added: “I had a text from Prince Harry yesterday and it’s not every day you get a text from Prince Harry, saying, ‘Can we have your home number, because Prince Harry wants to call you?

"And I thought, ‘I’m feeling a bit tired tonight so you can call me tomorrow Harry!’ So I’m going to be speaking to him later and we’re going to be working together.”

This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.

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