Tom Hanks, Viola Davis, & 10 More Celebrities Who Live With Diabetes

Viola Davis

Viola Davis was first diagnosed with prediabetes in 2016. “I was frozen and in shock when I got the diagnosis,” she told MedlinePlus Magazine. “I considered myself to be a very healthy woman. I thought I watched what I ate. I exercised. I was not overweight. Looking back now, I see I probably had a lot of preconceived notions about diabetes. There is a history of diabetes in my family. My sisters, my great aunt, and other members of my family have type 2 diabetes.”

Following her immediate response, Davis took steps to educate herself and alter her dietary habits to prevent her prediabetes from developing into full-blown type 2 diabetes. In 2019, the Academy Award-winning actor also narrated the diabetes-focused documentary A Touch of Sugar, and she continues to be a vocal advocate for people with prediabetes, encouraging open conversations about the condition and discussions about how to prevent it. “There is a stigma that it only afflicts those who bring it upon themselves,” she continued. “And there is a stigma that people with diabetes are just eating what they want, are out of control, and don’t care about their bodies. That is just not the case. Look at me. I worked out four, five, six times a week, watched what I ate, and I got it. It’s a chronic disease that should not be dismissed because of myths and stigma.”

Rylee Arnold

In May, Dancing With the Stars pro Rylee Arnold, 18, shared her type 1 diabetes diagnosis in a candid Instagram post. “It’s been three years since I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Although it was one of the hardest times in my life and one of the biggest learning curves for me, I’m incredibly grateful for the strength it has given me!”

During a follow-up interview on Taylor Lautner and Taylor Lautner’s The Squeeze podcast, Arnold explained how her symptoms manifested leading up to her diagnosis. “I was at a convention and I went through like a whole case of water bottles in one day,” Arnold said. “I was peeing like every 30 minutes. I was eating so much but losing so much weight. I continued to live my life and I just kept getting sicker.”

Eventually, Arnold asked her dad to take her to the hospital, where she was told her blood sugar levels were 1,023 milligrams, a far cry from the 70-100-milligram average. Since her initial diagnosis, Arnold has learned to manage her symptoms and prioritize her health as she continues to pursue her dance career. “All of the blood sugar scares, counting carbs, hauling supplies, and crazy management is so worth it!” she added in her Instagram post. “Type 1 has taught me so much about myself and how I can also be a huge advocate to so many with Type 1 as well.”

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks first revealed his diabetes diagnosis in 2013 during an interview with Late Show host David Letterman, per USA Today. “I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36? Well, you’ve graduated! You’ve got type 2 diabetes, young man,’” Hanks said sarcastically. 

Though Hanks had seen the signs of a potential diabetes diagnosis during prior visits to the doctor, he said he chose to ignore them up until his official diagnosis. “Part of it is because of my genes and part of it is because of the horrible lifestyle that I led of eating anything,” he told the podcast Sooo Many White Guys in 2018. “So now the first thing that I do is I try to take care of that.” Now, the star makes a concerted effort to keep his diabetes under control. In addition to watching what he eats “to the point of boredom,” Hanks allots an hour of time to exercise every single day, including walks on the treadmill or hikes with his dog.

Nick Jonas

Nick Jonas was 13 years old when he began to experience symptoms of type 1 diabetes. “I remember I told my parents that I needed to go to the doctor, something didn’t feel right and they had already seen the significant weight loss and some of the other symptoms so they brought me in,” Jonas said in an interview with Beyond Type 1, a nonprofit organization he co-founded in 2015 to advocate for people living with diabetes. “It was there that my pediatrician informed me that I had type 1 diabetes. At first I was devastated, naturally. But I didn’t really have time to be devastated because I had to get right to the hospital. It was the start to a crazy new journey.”

As one-third of the Jonas Brothers, the star has learned to manage the physical and mental symptoms of his diabetes on tour with the help of his family and friends, including his brothers. “It’s super important for people to have that conversation around the mental health aspect, not just for the individual, but for their families and support system,” he told TODAY.com in November. Jonas added, “There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to managing your diabetes. It’s going to be an ever-changing thing with age and life experiences.”

Halle Berry

Halle Berry was 22 years old when she went into a seven-day diabetic coma while filming the 1989 TV show, Living Dolls. Shortly afterward, Berry was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, an incurable chronic condition in which the body makes little to no insulin, per Mayo Clinic. For Berry, the severity of her diagnosis initially came as a shock. “They told me I might lose my eyesight, or I could lose my legs,” she told The Daily Mail in 2005. “I was scared to death, I thought I was going to die.”

In an effort to manage her diabetes, Berry began taking insulin injections, adopted a keto diet, and made significant changes to her exercise routine. “Diabetes turned out to be a gift,” she said. “It gave me strength and toughness because I had to face reality, no matter how uncomfortable or painful it was.” In the years since her diagnosis, conflicting reports have emerged questioning whether Berry had type 1 or type 2 diabetes after the star claimed to wean herself off insulin and effectively “cure” her diabetes. While neither type 1 or type 2 diabetes is curable, some people with type 2 diabetes can manage their blood sugar levels through diet and exercise, without insulin injections.

Patti LaBelle

Over 25 years ago, Patti LaBelle collapsed on stage and was rushed to the hospital, where she received a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. “I had no idea what was happening, but that night in the hospital, when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my life was forever changed,” LaBelle said in a 2023 essay for The Washington Informer. “At first, I was angry, and I was terrified. I watched my aunt and uncle lose their sight, and my mother lost both her legs before she died in her 60s due to diabetes. I know firsthand the toll that this disease can take. It took me a while to do something about my diabetes. I was in denial. I kept my old unhealthy eating habits.”

Eventually, LaBelle began to acknowledge her body’s needs and make alterations to her lifestyle that paid off. In recent years, LaBelle has become a proud advocate for people with diabetes, namely those in communities of color where access to appropriate healthcare treatments and technology are often scarce. “Diabetes is often invisible to everyone except those living with it, and for too long, minorities have felt invisible in this country,” she added. “They deserve to feel seen and heard. I am proof that you can not only live with Type 2 diabetes but also live well with it.”

Lila Moss

In 2021, Lila Moss made headlines when she proudly walked the runway at Fendi x Versace’s “Fendance” fashion show in Milan with her insulin pump on full display. Moss, a model and daughter of Kate Moss, shared further details of diagnosis during a 2023 episode of “Diary of a Model” on Vogue’s YouTube channel. “When they told me, I was kind of just like in shock,” she said. “I was like, I didn’t even know what that means, and then the reality set in of like, you’re gonna have this forever.”

First diagnosed as a child, Moss has experienced a lifetime of treatment and reportedly wears a continuous glucose monitor to track her blood sugar levels. In an episode of British Vogue’s “In My Bag” YouTube series, the model also revealed that she keeps sugar tablets in her bag in case her blood sugar levels drop too low.

Este Haim

Before her musical success alongside her sisters as a rock trio, Este Haim was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 14. “Getting diagnosed at 14 might be the worst time, especially as a female,” Haim told Levels, a metabolic health company, in 2021. “It was my first week of high school. All I wanted was for a boy to look at me and say I was pretty. Before I got diagnosed, I had lost all this weight [because I was sick]. And I grew up in LA—at that time, thin was in. Then I started insulin shots, and I gained weight and thought, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. No thanks.’”

The diagnosis, though devastating, was one Haim did not want to interfere with her everyday life. Once her music career launched, Haim’s symptoms only worsened as a result of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle she was living on tour. “My doctor was looking at my A1C and said, ‘Listen, Este, I love that you’re a touring musician. But I know what goes along with that, so we need to make this easier for you because your numbers are all over the place.’ In fact, because my numbers were all over the show, I was having kidney problems. That was the real catalyst for him saying, ‘We can’t f*ck around with this. We’re getting you on a CGM, and it’s going to save your life.’” After years of struggling with her diabetes, Haim began wearing a continuous glucose monitor in 2018, a device that automatically monitors your blood sugar levels and has inspired her to become a vocal advocate for people living with diabetes.

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones is one of many celebrities living with type 2 diabetes. “I didn’t notice any symptoms,” Jones told Country Living in 2018. “I had gone on a diet and exercise program hoping to lose some weight and ended up falling asleep sitting on a bench in the gymnasium. My doctor, who happened to be there, said that’s not normal. He encouraged me to go get a test, and I did — and there it was: type 2 diabetes. It hit me like a thunderbolt.”

The diagnosis encouraged Jones to pay more attention to his health and learn to manage his symptoms. “I had to retrain myself to be aware of when my body is telling me something,” Jones said. “Usually with low blood sugar, it’s easy to notice. With high blood sugar, it’s not as easy, and that can be the most dangerous aspect of type 2 diabetes.” A legend on stage and on screen, Jones, 93, still strives to maintain an active work-life balance while maintaining his health. “I love working, and at my age I still love being able to put in eight shows a week on a play or handle a long schedule if I’m doing film or television,” he said. “I didn’t want that to stop, so I had to take responsibility with my condition.”

Billie Jean King

Tennis legend Billie Jean King received her type 2 diabetes diagnosis in 2007. Partially attributing her condition to a family history of diabetes and to her past experience with an eating disorder, King reportedly wasn’t shocked at the diagnosis. “I have an eating disorder; I was a binge eater. I don’t binge eat anymore, but for about 10 years, I was being very cruel to my poor little pancreas,” she wrote in her 2021 autobiography All In, per The Express.

King went on to say that the fear of her diabetes symptoms worsening encouraged her to look after her health. “My blood sugar is pretty good most of the time — if I’m eating right, exercising, and taking my medication,” she said. Since her diagnosis, the tennis star has become active in raising awareness of diabetes through programs like the Novo Nordisk Donnelly Awards, an annual scholarship King first established in 1998 to encourage high school and college students living with diabetes to stay active and healthy.

Meghan Trainor

While pregnant with her first son, Riley, in 2020, Meghan Trainor revealed that she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, a type of diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy. While a person’s blood sugar levels typically return to normal after delivery, gestational diabetes can increase the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, according to Mayo Clinic. The condition also increases the risk of high blood pressure during pregnancy.

“Got a little, little tiny bump in the road — I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes, but it’s manageable and it’s OK and I’m healthy and the baby’s healthy,” Trainor said while speaking about her pregnancy with TODAY in 2020. “I just have to really pay attention to everything I eat. It’s nice to learn so much about food and health and nice to hear that so many women experienced this.”

Billy Porter

In 2021, Billy Porter penned a moving piece for The Hollywood Reporter detailing his experience receiving an HIV diagnosis and a type 2 diabetes diagnosis in the same year. “It was 2007, the worst year of my life,” Porter wrote. “I was on the precipice of obscurity for about a decade or so, but 2007 was the worst of it. By February, I had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. By March, I signed bankruptcy papers. And by June, I was diagnosed HIV-positive.” 

Considering the US medical system’s history of misdiagnosing and mistreating people of color and people in the LGBTQ+ community, Porter admits he was hesitant to see a doctor regularly prior to his diagnoses. Now, though, the star says, “I go to the doctor, and I know what’s going on in my body. I’m the healthiest I’ve been in my entire life.” While Porter has kept the details of his diabetes diagnosis private since this initial announcement, it’s clear the star has his health front of mind.