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“CBS MORNINGS” EXCLUSIVE: MAGIC AND COOKIE JOHNSON ON SURVIVING HIV, STOPPING THE STIGMA AND BUILDING AN EMPIRE

On CBS MORNINGS today, co-host Gayle King sat down with Magic and Cookie Johnson exclusively ahead of the 30th anniversary of his HIV diagnosis. Johnson opened up about his health and his career, and reflected on when he first learned he was HIV positive, saying, “You just sit there and say, what does this mean? Am I going to die?”

Watch here: https://cbsn.ws/3q62wbz

Twitter link: https://bit.ly/31lbw2e

Excerpts:

- On telling his wife, Cookie Johnson, about his diagnoses: “The toughest thing, Gayle, I had to do was drive home and tell Cookie. It was hard because I loved her so much and I hated to hurt her. I played against some of the best basketball players in the world, right? I've been in championships, I've been in nine finals, so I know pressure, but there was no greater pressure than driving home to tell her. Even today, it’s still the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”

- On hearing the news he had HIV:

MAGIC JOHNSON: Went straight to Dr. Mellman’s office, and that's when he told me I had HIV.

GAYLE KING: And when you first heard those words, what was the thought in your mind?

MAGIC JOHNSON: I was devastated. I asked him a hundred times, “Are you sure?” They said, “Hey, we ran the tests a couple of times. You actually do have HIV.” And I just lost it right there. You just sit there and say, “What does this mean, am I going to die?” I definitely asked him that, and he said, “Well, you have a chance to live for a long time with all the new drugs that are coming down the pipeline.”

- On the backlash Johnson received when he returned to basketball in the All-Star game: “I got cut, and I was very upset at the backlash because I just played with a lot of the guys who didn’t want me to come back...”

-What Cookie said that changed Magic’s life and inspired him to focus on business: “I’m looking at you like this sitting on this couch. That’s not the man I married. You know, the man I married was a hard worker. You know, he was changing the world. He had all these ideas. He was so full of life. I don’t know who this is. You need to get up and figure that out.”

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Press Contacts:

Samantha Graham, CBS News Communications

GrahamS@cbsnews.com

Tucker Hart, CBS News Communications

HartT@cbsnews.com