Nick Jonas says he ‘resents’ this part of having type 1 diabetes in emotional open letter

Emlyn TravisMon, November 9, 2026 at 3:33 PM UTC

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Nick JonasCredit: Slaven Vlasic/GettyKey Points -

Nick Jonas is sharing why part of him ‘resents’ his type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

The Jonas Brothers singer penned an emotional letter to the disease in honor of National Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day.

Jonas was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 13 years old.

Nick Jonas is speaking directly to his type 1 diabetes.

The “Cool” singer, 34, is one of multiple individuals living with the autoimmune disease who penned an emotional letter to it as part of glucose monitoring company DexCom’s A Letter to Diabetes campaign in honor of National Diabetes Awareness Month and World Diabetes Day.

“Hello, old friend. How long has it been?” Jonas, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 13, began. “Twenty-one years. Twenty-one years, and you haven’t changed a bit.”

Nick JonasCredit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

“It’s funny how often we talk. Every few minutes, honestly,” he continued. “Staring at my phone to see where my glucose is. Reaching for my pump to bolus because I’m about to eat something with 17 carbs. Those are just a couple of the hundreds of little decisions I make every week.”

They’re tiny conversations that Jonas notes most people would never notice. “But they add up to a real relationship, because that’s what diabetes is,” he wrote. “It’s an ongoing conversation between your body, your mind, and your devices.”

The Jonas Brothers member noted that he and his diabetes “actually get along” some days.

“Other days you’re off on a solo mission, and it doesn’t matter how careful I am. You’re going to do what you’re going to do,” he shared. “In a lot of ways, that’s what family is like. You rely on each other, you push each other, and you know they’ll always be there. So even when you’re fighting, you trust the rug isn’t going to get pulled out from under you.”

Jonas said he was initially thrown by the unpredictability that comes with living with type 1 diabetes. “I’d built my whole life around this unrealistic structure and belief that I was in control,” he wrote. “You took that apart over the years, bit by bit. Part of me is grateful I learned that lesson. Part of me resents you for it. Full stop. There are days I wonder what life would feel like without you.”

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However, he acknowledged that he’s been able to find community in those also navigating the illness alongside him. “I always struggled to feel like I belonged anywhere. At school, I felt misunderstood. In most circles, for that matter. Through my childhood and youth, that was the theme,” he explained. “It wasn’t until I started talking openly about life with type 1, and meeting other people who were living it too, that I finally felt like I belonged somewhere.”

He continued, “I never wanted to be a victim, or to come across like one. I share my story for the 13-year-old who just got diagnosed and is lying in a hospital bed, scared to death. I want them to be able to look up and see someone out there living their dreams while managing all of this, every single day.”

Jonas concluded, “So thank you, old friend, for the lessons I never asked for. I’m going to keep sharing my story and telling the truth, so someone out there feels a little less alone.”

Nick JonasCredit: Theo Wargo/Getty

The Power Ballad actor previously opened up about being diagnosed with diabetes in a July 2025 episode of Penn Badgley’s Podcrushed podcast. “I had no idea. I just knew that I wasn’t feeling well and was losing all this weight,” Jonas said. “It’s actually a testament to the lack of information and awareness there was around type 1 at this time.”

He explained that it was his older brother Joe Jonas who spotted his rapid weight loss while the band was on the road and raised the alarm bells with their parents.

“We went to the pool one day, and he saw my back and called my parents and said, ‘You know, something’s really wrong. You have to get down here,’” Jonas recalled. “I was feeling just awful.”

Jonas was taken to the hospital, where they discovered that his glucose level was “very high.” He then received a team of “great doctors” who were able to restore his levels so that he could return to the stage with his brothers “within a week of being diagnosed.”

on Entertainment Weekly

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