Lukas Gage has opened up about the impact his ex-partner’s cheating had on his health.
In a recent interview with the New York Post, the You star dished about some of the topics explored in his upcoming memoir, I Wrote This For Attention, including his experience contracting two sexually transmitted infections from an unfaithful partner.
“It was a double whammy. It wasn’t that I was in an opposition to having a nonmonogamous relationship, it was just not talked about,” he told the publication. “It really kind of freaked me out and sent me into a spiral.”
Before receiving the shocking diagnosis, the Euphoria star said he regularly tested for STIs, but was less proactive after entering the relationship.
When asked how his ex-partner reacted to the cheating allegations, Gage said: “He was very much sticking to the lie, until I went to the doctor who laughed at me as soon as I pulled my pants and said, ‘That’s an STD.'”
While the two STIs he contracted were treatable, the experience pushed the 30-year-old to take extra precautions to protect his sexual health, including taking PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis).
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PrEP (sometimes known as Truvada) is a medicine that drastically reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex or injection drug use when taken effectively.
It typically comes in the form of a tablet containing tenofovir disoproxil and emtricitabine, both of which are used to treat HIV. Once there’s enough of the drug inside you, it works by blocking HIV from getting into the body and replicating itself.
Gage, who has recently partnered with Gilead for their HealthySexual campaign, praised the innovative drug for helping him “not spin out and be so fearful.”
“The misconception with PrEP is if you take it, that means that you’re reckless with yourself, with your sex life, and it’s a free for all – and I don’t think that’s true. I think it’s just the opposite. I think it’s being cautious and careful and feeling like I have ownership,” he exclaimed.
“No one’s perfect. People make mistakes. I’ve been the person who was the cheater, too. The most important thing to do would be to be honest about it and forthcoming.”
Gage’s recent candid interview comes a few weeks after he opened up about his brief marriage to ex Chris Appleton.
While discussing his journey as a queer actor in Hollywood, host Amanda Hirsch asked Gage if he regretted getting married to Appleton on Hulu’s The Kardashians.
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“Yeah, but hashtag no regrets for real. Look, I learned so much about it,” he said.
After Hirsch reflected on Gage’s appearance on the episode, Gage revealed that he didn’t “know who that person was” anymore.
“And that is really disturbing. I don’t see anyone behind the eyes. I couldn’t [watch the episode] till later, and no one’s home,” he continued.
“There is a very crazy way that sometimes we go about prescribing people medication. I can joke about it and have humility and laugh about it because it’s funny, and whatever, it’s a good story. That’s the great thing about this. All this kind of bad, traumatic stuff makes for great stories.“
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