Former Wales and Lions wing Gareth Thomas reveals he has HIV

"I'm Gareth Thomas and I want to share my secret with you. Why? Because it's mine to tell you."

Former Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas has revealed that he is HIV positive, declaring via Twitter that he wants to "break the stigma" around the condition. In a video on Twitter on Saturday night, Thomas revealed his diagnosis and his reasons for sharing the news.

"I'm Gareth Thomas and I want to share my secret with you. Why? Because it's mine to tell you, not the emails that make my life hell, threatening to tell you before I do, and because I believe in you and I trust you," he said.

"I'm living with HIV. Now you have that information, that makes me extremely vulnerable but it does not make me weak. "Now even though I've been forced to tell you this, I choose to fight, to educate and break the stigma around this subject." The ex-British and Irish Lions skipper is due to talk about his diagnosis in a BBC Wales documentary on Wednesday. https://twitter.com/gareththomas14/status/1172979157762039810 In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Thomas said that blackmailers had threatened to reveal his diagnosis. Advances in medical treatment mean that people who are HIV positive can live long and healthy lives and with treatment, the virus cannot be passed on. "I'm going to have to take it on board and deal with it," Thomas says in the documentary on Wednesday. "I think it's going to teach so many people what HIV is. "I was one of the ignorant ones, I will be honest, like so many people."