AIDS is not in vain called "the plague of the twentieth century" - according to various sources, the epidemic has already claimed 35-40 million. Lives. May 21 (the third Sunday of the month) in the world celebrate the International Day of Remembrance of the AIDS Victims.
"The Observer" suggests recalling who of the celebrities lost the fight with this terrible disease.
But in the beginning - a bit of history. In the early 1980s, the deadly virus was mistaken for a "rare form of cancer in gay men". For a long time AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, English abbreviation - AIDS) was associated exclusively with a dissolute way of life, unconventional sexual orientation and drug use.
Until now, mankind has not come up with a way to get rid of the disease. But he learned to co-exist with him. HIV-infected people are no longer considered outcasts, and the very fact of infection is a fatal sentence. Thanks to timely therapy, the carriers of the virus can lead a full life and raise healthy children. Alas, too many, including the rich and famous, did not wait for this conditional "truce".
Freddie Mercury "Success has given me millions of fans and pounds, but deprived me of a lasting relationship," lamented the lead singer of the legendary Queen band in an interview. From the mid-1980s, he actually lived as a hermit and did not come out with a "couple" - neither with a woman, nor with a man. About his personal life, it was only known that Freddie loves cats. In the house of the star there lived a few pets, whom he "called from the tour".
The musician was also secretive in the matter of health. Presumably, he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. The official statement about the disease was made on November 23, 1991. A day later, a 45-year-old singer died of bronchopneumonia, which developed against the background of HIV infection. And a week later, musicians Queen Brian May and Roger Taylor told the world about the homosexuality of the author hits Bohemian Rhapsody and We Are the Champions.
Isaac Asimov The representative of the "Big Three" science fiction writers (along with Arthur Clark and Robert Heinlein) was neither a drug addict nor a homosexual. His first marriage lasted almost 30 years, the second - more than 20 years. Intellectual was not spattered on random novels, preferring to spend energy on books, which he had more than 500. But this did not save the writer from the "plague of the twentieth century". In 1983, Asimov was done bypassing the heart vessels. Operation was successfully completed. Only the blood donor turned out to be HIV-infected.
72-year-old science fiction died in 1992 from AIDS-related complications. Frightened by the public reaction, relatives called the cause of death heart and kidney failure. The truth was revealed only ten years after the funeral.
Rudolph Nureyev The health problems of the greatest dancer of the twentieth century began in 1983, when he headed the ballet troupe of the Paris Opera. 45-year-old Nureyev often woke up in sweat, he was feverish, he quickly lost weight. A year later, he was diagnosed with AIDS. Fearing for his career, Rudolph preferred to keep the diagnosis in secret. In 1986, he experienced a personal drama: the Danish dancer Eric Brun died, with whom Nureyev maintained a romantic connection for almost a quarter of a century, since his escape from the USSR. The official cause of death was lung cancer. However, there is a version that Erica killed the immunodeficiency virus.
Nureyev did everything to deceive the disease. Despite weakness and shortness of breath, he continued to dance until 1991. Then he switched to conducting. Two months before his death, the weakened Nureyev could no longer eat on his own, but continued to work on the score. The dancer died on January 6, 1993 in the Paris hospital. He was 54 years old.
Michel Foucault Advocate for "the right of everyone to commit suicide," the creator of the first in France department of psychoanalysis, the author of "History of Madness" and "History of Sexuality" put a lot of medical diagnoses. He suffered from mosaic personality disorder and suicidal tendencies, acutely experienced his homosexuality, took almost all available types of drugs. Foucault could die in his youth when, in a fit of insanity, he shredded his chest with a razor. Or die in 1978 under the wheels of a car: the philosopher crossed a busy street under the influence of opium and got into an accident.
But fate has prepared for him an even more exotic way to say goodbye to the world. According to the testimony of relatives, the thinker himself diagnosed AIDS, which at that time was little known. However, to those around him, he said that in his bad health guilty banal flu. In 1984 Foucault fainted and was taken to the clinic, where he no longer left. The greatest thinker of the era died at 57 years of complications associated with AIDS.
Gia Karandzhi One of the first supermodels went down in history and as the first famous woman who died of AIDS. In the late 1970s it was thanks to Karanji that the fashion world quickly switched attention from blondes to brown-haired and brunette. The popular Gia became at the age of 18, fabulously rich - in 19. At 20 she had nothing to dream about - except for the next dose of drugs.
In 1980, Gia buried her friend and agent Wilhelmina Cooper, who died of lung cancer. If earlier Karanji "dabbled" with cocaine, then now switched to a more powerful painkiller - heroin. At first, this "passion" did not prevent her from working. However, after a couple of years, all the once idolized agencies and fashion magazines turned their back on the beauty.. Even retouch could no longer hide the swollen veins and other traces of drug use. Deprived of the source of income, the model quite quickly lowered its huge savings. To earn the next dose, she had to engage in prostitution. Three times, Jia nearly died of an overdose. And at 26 I was hospitalized with suspected pneumonia. But everything turned out to be much worse. With the diagnosis of AIDS, Karanji lived only six months.
In the year of her death - 1986 - began the rapid ascent of the brown-haired Cindy Crawford, who was often called "little Gia". Fortunately, the parallels between supermodels were limited to external similarity. And in 1998, the biographical drama "Gia" appeared on the screens, which brought the "Golden Globe" awards to Angelina Jolie (starring) and Faye Dunaway (the role of Wilhelmina Cooper).
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