Lee Thompson, Alana's beloved "Uncle Poodle" on TLC's "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," has just revealed he is HIV-positive.
"I knew it had been my boyfriend who infected me," Thompson says in a new interview with Fenuxe magazine, whose tagline is "Modern, American, Gay."
"I later learned he had been HIV positive and was not taking medication and had not bothered to tell me about it," Thompson continued. "I was advised that I should press charges and, hesitantly, I did. It was the right thing to do."
Thompson's ex-boyfriend is now serving a five-year sentence for not disclosing his condition.
"On March 16, 2012, I tested negative. Then, in May of 2012 my test results came back positive," Thompson explained in the article. "I would have been cool with his HIV status if he had been honest. I don’t have an issue with the disease. I would have known how to protect myself."
TLC has so far not commented on Thompson's revelation, but the hit "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" -- on which Thompson was a recurring character -- has been picked up for a second season.
As for where that "Uncle Poodle" nickname came from, he says, "Alana. She calls all gay men 'my poodles' and I am her Uncle Poodle."
In a season one episode of of the hit TLC show, Alana says of her beloved uncle, "Ain't nothing wrong with being gay. Everyone's a little gay."
Uncle Poodle says he decided to tell his story because "I want to have my own television show and highlight what it is like being gay in the south ... I think I have a good story to tell."
Watch the Thompson family address their Uncle Poodle's sexuality below:
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