00:00I married a man with HIV and now we are trying for our baby.
00:04We got a lot of hateration.
00:06We're destroying her life by being with her.
00:09That I'm desperate or that I'm stupid.
00:12I could take her from you.
00:14We can make normal babies together.
00:16A lot of my family and friends do not know.
00:20Today I've decided to tell my Uncle Mark about Andy's positive HIV status.
00:26I'm nervous. I'm pretty nervous.
00:30So Uncle Mark, there's something that we actually brought you over here for.
00:34My name is Jasmine.
00:35My name is Andy Feds.
00:37I am 26 years old and I'm a medical assistant.
00:41I am 33 years old and I'm a stand-up comedian.
00:44My name is Andy Feds. I'm the first ever openly HIV-positive born stand-up comedian.
00:48Do you have to take care of your medicine yet today?
00:50I'm about to do it right now.
00:52Andy and I met on a dating app.
00:55I realized I was attracted to her as soon as I saw her photos.
00:58I was like, do y'all see her?
01:00Like, shit.
01:01Immediately, swipe right.
01:03It was initial attraction for sure.
01:07When we first met, we were literally glued to the hip.
01:10And he never left my apartment, so we've literally been stuck together since.
01:15I wasn't homeless, y'all.
01:18Andy told me about his HIV status about a month into us getting to know each other.
01:26I was very shocked.
01:28So, I manage my virus by making sure that I take my two pills, which is Tivacay and Proscobix.
01:36I didn't want to stop talking to him because of his status.
01:40I did want to see where things would lead to.
01:43I go to the doctor maybe about every six months.
01:47And that's just to make sure that my medication is working.
01:50My blood test is still good.
01:52My undetectable status is still there.
01:54Undetectable means untransmittable, which means that there's literally a less than 0% chance to transmit to Jasmine.
02:00I have been undetectable for a couple of years now.
02:03We also use contraceptives, making sure that there's no way that she can, you know, contract HIV from me.
02:10I contracted HIV from my mother through birth.
02:14Do you hold any resentment towards your mom for not taking her medication?
02:20She didn't know how to handle it.
02:22She didn't know how to, you know, deal with the backlash of people finding out about her status.
02:28And I think that ultimately led to her just being scared to get the help, being scared to take care
02:33of herself.
02:34And unfortunately, she made the decisions that she did.
02:38And, you know, she's not here because of it.
02:40But I think that's why, like, I love doing what I do because there are tons of people like my
02:45mom that, you know,
02:46when they find out about their status, they're not getting that help that they need.
02:50They don't know where to turn for that support.
02:52It has not been any different.
02:54He's the best man I've ever been with in my entire life.
02:59He's my best friend.
03:01And now, I mean, obviously, I don't care.
03:04I married the man.
03:04I love the man.
03:05I honestly forget that he has it.
03:07I forget, too.
03:08Literally until I have to take my medication, that's when I realize, oh, yeah, I got HIV.
03:15So, babe, you ready for Uncle Mark to make his way over here?
03:21Yeah, getting ready.
03:23I'm a little nervous.
03:24Today, I've decided to tell my Uncle Mark about Andy's positive HIV status.
03:30I have not told many family members about Andy's virus because I'm nervous about a negative reaction.
03:42Hey!
03:43Hi!
03:43Come on in!
03:44How are you?
03:45I'm good. How are you?
03:49So, Uncle Mark, there's something that we actually brought you over here for because there's something that I haven't really
03:56shared with Jasmine's family.
03:57And it's that with my stand-up comedy that I've been doing for 13 years, I actually talk about HIV
04:04and AIDS.
04:04And it's simply because I was born HIV positive.
04:09And so, I used my mom's story, who, you know, she contracted it from a boyfriend who never told her.
04:16And then she wound up passing away when I was five and she was 26.
04:20So, I see you were in the hospital in this picture.
04:23Is this when you found out you were diagnosed?
04:25Um, no.
04:27I really didn't know that I had HIV until I was like five.
04:31You know, my mom passed away after the funeral.
04:34That's when I really started to, you know, ask my grandma, hey, why am I constantly going to the doctor?
04:39Why am I taking these medications?
04:40Were you scared?
04:42Um, I don't think I was really scared because I don't think I really understood at the time.
04:46So, it was just normal for me.
04:49So, we wanted to just, I guess, start off with the conversations, um, with Jasmine's family about, you know, my
04:56status and how you might feel about that.
04:59Well, that's perfectly fine.
05:02Um, you know, that's really not an issue.
05:04I think Jasmine's family is the most accepting family of anything.
05:09It's, I mean, it is a big deal to you guys, but letting your family know.
05:13But, um, you know, um, I'm a lot older.
05:16I've been through all this.
05:18Uh, I, I know that, um, things like that.
05:21Um, yeah, we, we just move on and you learn from that.
05:24It's exactly what you're saying.
05:26So, yeah.
05:26Yeah.
05:27As a teenager, did you feel scared when you saw your peers around you dating and you knew that you
05:35probably couldn't?
05:36I think I was scared.
05:38A lot of people looked at, you know, HIV as a sick thing.
05:41So, you know, uh, I looked at it as a sick thing when I shouldn't have.
05:45I actually didn't date until I was maybe in my twenties.
05:50A lot of misconceptions that I faced about the virus is maybe he might be gay or he's always sick
05:55or he's about to die soon.
05:57In my mind, it was just like, ain't nobody going to want to date me.
06:00As I got older, I was just like, you know what? He's him.
06:05Like, let's go ahead and start dating.
06:07There were times where, you know, things were going great and then the HIV conversation came up and it didn't
06:14work out.
06:14We've been thinking about trying to, you know, have a baby soon.
06:18For certain that the baby won't have HIV.
06:22Yeah. So, with PrEP, it's basically like the birth control pill for HIV.
06:27And so it's basically blocked that virus from entering the body.
06:30As long as Jasmine doesn't contract HIV, then the baby won't contract HIV as well.
06:35I do a lot of, you know, social media work talking about HIV and AIDS.
06:39And a lot of times people were just like, well, you being selfish or are you putting that woman in
06:44harm?
06:45We got a lot of like hating people, you know, the hateration.
06:48Let's hit her with a troll face. Ready?
06:50All right, here we go.
06:50Why would she be with somebody that's HIV positive?
06:54That I'm desperate or that I'm stupid and I'm ruining my life being with him.
07:00This person says, sheesh, is this to be normalized? I'm confused.
07:04I wouldn't date you if he was the last man on earth.
07:06Things like, oh, I could take her from you. We can make normal babies together.
07:13I can too.
07:15It just seems so sad that here we are, 2026, and it's, you know, the thing years ago.
07:24Just very ignorant people.
07:27I'm glad you, you know, aren't judgmental as some people are.
07:31Well, thank you for sharing that.
07:32Absolutely.
07:32I feel kind of privileged and honored that I'm the first one that you're told, so.
07:37She really completes me.
07:39We meshed together so well from the moment we met.
07:43If you saw our chemistry, like, even from the beginning, everything is all around just rainbows and sunshine.
07:50You make me feel safe, you know, despite my diagnosis.
07:56With modern medication, you know, people can live healthy, normal lives.
08:01So it's absolutely no big deal.
08:04You want to know what else I feel good about?
08:06What?
08:06This.
08:08What I would say to people that judge our relationship is like, you must be lonely, huh?
08:12Because this is like a perfect relationship.
08:15If you don't have anything nice to say about it...
08:18Don't say it at all.
08:19Don't say anything.
08:20Don't say anything nice.
08:35lsрип
08:35You
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