The rumour of Lupita allegedly having HIV/Aids has spread like a wild fire all over internet as if our African virtue of keeping such sensitive issues to ourselves has ceased from existing. A few days back, an American online journal published an article claiming that Oscar Award winner Lupita Nyong’o is HIV positive, causing a social media uproar.
HIV is a deadly virus that we expect people to keep ‘a secret’ in case a person acquired it (as Africans used to do it in the past).
According to the publication, Lupita allegedly revealed her HIV status on Saturday morning. They went on to allege that the star had been hiding her status for 11 years and that she contracted the virus from her ex-boyfriend.
The article further said that Lupita Nyong’o got the virus at 23 and has since kept it private.
However, it has emerged that those allegations are words from haters, people who don’t wish good for the star. We have learnt that five years ago, Lupita Nyong’o starred in “Shuga”, a MTV Base Africa soap opera in which she juggled two men.
In the three-part first season, the actress played the part of Ayira, who sleeps with her boss.
The show’s numerous sex scenes proved a way to raise HIV/Aids awareness, and by the third part Ayira (Lupita) discovered she might have contracted the deadly disease.
So it is arguably fair if we concluded that whoever spread the gossip of Lupita being positive based his or her argument on that soap and to the fans whose hearts had already skipped, you may breathe a sigh of relief.
dmurungi@ug.nationmedia.com