Gay British Member of Parliament Chris Smith, 53, revealed Jan. 29 that he has been HIV-positive for at least 17 years.
Smith, who has been in Parliament since 1983, also served as Prime Minister Tony Blair's culture secretary from 1997 to 2001.
'When I first heard about it, I was really worried because there was hardly any treatment,' Smith told the Sunday Times, adding that he later was able to remain healthy by taking a combination of antiretroviral drugs.
'I didn't feel the need to tell people, except for a very, very few, as it was not in any way affecting my work,' he said.
Smith said he was inspired to finally reveal his status by former South African President Nelson Mandela who, on Jan. 6, announced that his oldest son had died of AIDS that morning.
'What Nelson Mandela said very much struck a chord with me,' Smith said. 'He spoke about how nobody should be ashamed of HIV and said that it should be regarded just like any other illness. He was brave and right.'
Speaking to reporters in Johannesburg Jan. 6, Mandela said: 'Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and to say somebody has died because of HIV. And people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.'