[ CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ]
>>> NOW, OUR SPECIAL WEEK-LONG SERIES "SECRETS: TELLING MYONG
SERIES "SECRETS: TELLING MY TRUTH."
TRUTH."
WERE BRINGING YOU WOMEN WITH
THE COURAGE TO TELL THEIR OWN LIFE STORIES.O TELL THEIR OWN
LIFE STORIES.
WE WANT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO
MAGGIE.
SHE MARRIED THE PERFECT HUSBAND. BUT SHE KEPT A SECRET ABOUT HIM.
BUT SHE KEPT A SECRET ABOUT HIM FOR YEARS THAT TOOK AN ENORMOUS
TOLL ON HER. WATCH.N HER.
WATCH.
>> I WAS MARRIED TO SOMEONE I THOUGHT WAS THE MAN OF MYNE I
THOUGHT WAS THE MAN OF MY
DREAMS.
HE WAS A JOURNALIST AND A FINE GUY.AS A JOURNALIST AND A FINE
GUY.
I THOUGHT MY LIFE WAS SET.
I HAD A BABY WITH HIM. WE SHARED INTEREST AND FAMILY
TIME.
TIME.
AND THEN, HE STARTED NOT TO FEEL WELL.HEN, HE STARTED NOT TO FEEL
WELL.
AROUND THE TIME I GOT PREGNANT WITH OUR SECOND CHILD, HE HADT
WITH OUR SECOND CHILD, HE HAD RASHES.
RASHES.
HE HAD HEADACHES. HE HAD COUGHS.ES.
HE HAD COUGHS. HE WAS LIMPING A LITTLE BIT.
ON HIS 36th BIRTHDAY AT A RESTAURANT, HE SEEMED FEVERISH
AND COULDNT SEEM TO FORM WORDS.
USED SOME OF THE WRONG WORDS. I GOT HIM HOME.E WRONG WORDS.
I GOT HIM HOME.
HE HAD A HIGH FEVER. I MANAGED TO GO TO BED.
I WENT OUT TO LUNCH WITH
SOMEONE.
AND THERE WAS MESSAGES ON MY
MACHINE.
AND THEY HAD PUT JOHN IN THE HOSPITAL.HAD PUT JOHN IN THE
HOSPITAL.
THEY GAVE HIM A BRAIN SCAN. THEY THOUGHT THAT HE HADAN.
THEY THOUGHT THAT HE HAD LYMPHOMA BECAUSE HE HAD LESIONS
ON HIS BRAIN.
I ASKED DOES HE HAVE AIDS?
NOT BECAUSE I SUSPECTED IT.
NOT BECAUSE I THOUGHT JOHN HAD
GOTTEN IT IN SOME WAY.
BUT I HAD SEEN TOO MANY PEOPLE
SICK AND ALL THE ILLNESSES ADDED
UP IN THAT ONE SECOND.
THEY GAVE HIM TWO WEEKS TO LIVE
AT THAT ONE TIME.
I CONFRONTED JOHN ABOUT HOW HE
GOT AIDS.
GOT AIDS. HE DID NOT TELL ME THE TRUTH.
AND I HAD TO LIVE WITH THAT
ASPECT OF THIS STORY FOR A VERY
LONG TIME.
LONG TIME.
I WAS SCRAMBLING TO KEEP WHAT HE HAD A SECRET.ING TO KEEP WHAT HE
HAD A SECRET. FOR THE FORESEEABLE FEECHUTURE,
WERE IN A LOCKDOWN.
I WENT ON WITH OUR LIVES AND
REBUILT OUR LIVES AS BEST I
COULD, BY KEEPING THIS A SECRET.
>> MAGGIE IS WITH US NOW.
SHE SHARES HER STORY IN HER NEW
BOOK, "NOW EVERYONE WILL KNOW."
THE PERFECT HUSBAND, HIS
SHATTERING SECRET.
SHATTERING SECRET. MY REDISCOVERED LIFE.
THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.
>> THANK YOU.
>> JOHN PASSED AWAY NINE MONTHS
AFTER HIS DIAGNOSIS, WHICH HIT
YOUR FAMILY LIKE A TON OF BRICKS
SINCE YOU HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF
THE BUILDUP, OTHER THAN THIS
MYSTERIOUS SERIES OF ILLNESSES.
WHEN YOU SAY HE LIED TO YOU WHEN
YOU ASKED HIM WHERE HE GOT IT?
>> HE COULDNT REALLY SAY.
AND I SAID -- I HAD TO TELL
HIM -- FIRST OF ALL, JOHN WAS
EXTREMELY ALTERED IN THE
HOSPITAL.
HOSPITAL.
WHEN HE COLLAPSED IN THE
RESTAURANT, HE HAD LESIONS ON HIS BRAIN., HE HAD LESIONS ON
HIS BRAIN. HE WASNT COGNIZANT OR
CONSCIOUS.
CONSCIOUS.
HE NEVER WAS AGAIN FOR THE TIME HE WAS ALIVE, TO DO PRACTICALME
HE WAS ALIVE, TO DO PRACTICAL BUSINESS-ORIENTED ACTIVITY.
BUSINESS-ORIENTED ACTIVITY. HE TOLD ME AFTER A FASHION, HE
HAD SLEPT WITH MEN.
AND I WAS SHOCKED.
>> YOU NEVER SUSPECTED HIM OF
THAT?
THAT?
>> WE HAD HONEST CONVERSATIONS IN OUR COURTSHIP, AS I BELIEVE,
IN THE BEST SENSE, ALL COUPLES
SHOULD.
SHOULD.
AND COVERED EVERY ASPECT OF OUR BROUNLDERED EVERY ASPECT OF OUR
BROUNLD BACKGROUNDS.
BACKGROUNDS. AND HE HAD LEFT SOME IMPORTANT
THINGS OUT.
THINGS OUT.
>> DID YOU WORRY THAT YOU HAD
IT, TOO?
>> RIGHT AWAY.
AND MY CHILDREN DID. I HAD A BABY.EN DID.
I HAD A BABY. I HAD A BABY THREE MONTHS BEFORE
A SON.
A SON.
I HAD A 2 1/2-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. WE DONT TALK ABOUT AIDS VERYTER.
WE DONT TALK ABOUT AIDS VERY MUCH ANYMORE.
MUCH ANYMORE. AND THERES A DEFICIT OF ONLY IN
KNOWLEDGE PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT IT.
BUT A MOTHER CAN PASS IT THROUGH
CHILDREN, THROUGH THE BIRTH
CANAL, BREAST-FEEDING.
CANAL, BREAST-FEEDING. AND UNTIL I WAS TESTED, I DIDNT
KNOW WHAT OUR FATE WAS.
>> YOU GOT A CLEAN BILL OF
HEALTH?
HEALTH?
>> WE GOT A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH
RIGHT AWAY.
>> FOR THOSE WHO DONT REMEMBER,
THERE WAS A REAL STIGMA ATTACHED
TO AIDS.
BUT WHY THE CHOICE TO KEEP IT A
SECRET?
YOU DECIDED NOT TO TELL ANY OF
YOUR FRIENDS OR FAMILY?
>> THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO KNEW. CIRCLE THE WAGON SITUATION.EW.
CIRCLE THE WAGON SITUATION. YOU HAD TO FIGURE OUT WHO YOU
WOULD TRUST.
WOULD TRUST. JOHN WAS A JOURNALIST.
HE WAS A PUBLIC FIGURE.
AND THE JOURNALISTS WERE CAREFUL
ABOUT KEEPING THIS QUIET.
WE HAD TO KEEP IT A SECRET
BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE AFRAID OF
PEOPLE OF AIDS IN 1990.
I THINK PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF
PEOPLE WITH AIDS.
AIDS HAS COME -- ITS A THEN AND NOW SITUATION.-- ITS A THEN AND
NOW SITUATION.
PEOPLE ARE SURVIVING IT. PEOPLE VERY MUCH KNOW HOW YOU
GET IT.
GET IT.
BUT THEN, THEY DID NOT. >> WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LABOR
UNDER THAT FOR ALL THESE YEARS?
>> REALLY CRIPPLING.
MY EXPERIENCE WRITING THIS BOOK
AND STARTING TO WRITE IT, ABOUT
SIX YEARS AGO, WAS A PROCESS OF
KNOWING THAT WE ARE NOW ABLE TO
BE MORE WHO WE ARE NOW IN
SOCIETY.
SOCIETY. "WILL & GRACE" WAS ON TV.
I DIDNT WATCH IT FOR A LONG
TIME.
TIME.
I WAS IN MY OWN BUBBLE.
VERY SIGNIFICANT.
I WOULD RIDE THE TRAIN TO WORK.
AND I WOULD READ "THE NEW YORK
TIMES."
AND THERE WAS COVERAGE OF AIDS,
WHEN I WAS WORKING.
AND IT WAS PROGRESSIVELY MORE
OPTIMISTIC.
BUT I WOULD THINK THAT NO WOULD
SHOULD SEE ME READING AN ARTICLE ABOUT AIDS.ME READING AN ARTICLE
ABOUT AIDS.
THATS A HIGH LEVEL OF PARANOIA. >> AND NOW THAT YOUVE DONE SO..
>> AND NOW THAT YOUVE DONE SO. YOUVE SAID IT.
YOUVE WRITTEN IT.
IS THAT LIBERATING?
>> I THINK IT IS.
ALL THE WORK I DID IN THE PAST
FEW YEARS TO GET TO THIS POINT
WAS TO BE ABLE TO SAY, MY
HUSBAND DIED OF AIDS.
AND NOT FLINCH AND NOT FUDGE AND
NOT SOMETHING I REALLY DONT
LIKE TO DO.
AND ITS NOT IN MY CHARACTER.
IT IS COMPLETELY LIBERATING.
>> YOU SAY IT AND WE ACCEPT IT.
>> I DONT FEEL ASHAMED.
AND I DONT FEEL AFRAID.
AND I FEEL THAT I CAN RECONNECT
BACK TO HIM.
AND SEEING THE PICTURES.
THE PICTURES WERE BOXED UP FOR A
WHILE.
I HAD A WONDERFUL, YOUNG
MARRIAGE.
>> THERE WAS HAPPINESS THERE. >> COMPLETE. HAPPINESS THERE.
>> COMPLETE.
>> THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORY WITH US.OR SHARING YOUR
STORY WITH US.
ALL THE BEST TO YOU. YOU CAN FIND MORE OF MAGGIES
STORY, IN HER BOOK, "NOW