The xx singer Oliver Sim has announced he has been living with HIV since he was 17.
The musician, 32, said he has been living in "shame and fear" for so long and now felt the time was right to go public about his HIV status.
Oliver said he penned the song Hideous, saying it how he "felt towards myself" after getting diagnosed with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), which is a virus that attacks the body's immune system, as a teenager.
Sharing the news on Instagram on Monday, Oliver said: "I’ve been living with HIV since I was 17 and it’s played with how I’ve felt towards myself, and how I’ve assumed others have felt towards me, from that age and into my adult life.
"So, quite impulsively, I wrote it on a song called Hideous. I thought I could release it in the world and be done with it.
"After playing the song to my mum, being the protective and wise mum that she is, she gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received.
"She suggested that I spend some time having conversations with people in my life first.
"Either people I hadn’t told yet, or people I had told but hadn’t wanted to talk much further on it."
Oliver said he spent the next two years having those "difficult and uncomfortable conversations" which has allowed him to "feel a lot freer" and strengthened his relationship with the people in his life and with himself.
The musician added he reached out to Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville, whose 80’s synthpop band Bronski Beat’s debut album, The Age Of Consent, was seen as a landmark release for the gay community.
He added: "I knew for Hideous I wanted a guardian angel to appear in the song and sing to me the words I needed to hear.
"Not only has Jimmy been such a powerful voice around HIV and Aids for decades, but the man quite literally sounds like a guardian angel.
"I reached out to him as a complete fan boy, but now consider him a real good friend.
“He encouraged me to do the song for myself. And most importantly, he reminded me not to take myself too seriously, no good comes from that!
"Am I Hideous?’ feels far less like a question I’m asking the world now. I know the answer.
"As scary as it feels, I’m excited to share this music with you, and I hope you enjoy it."
