Why Mike Tyson Lied to His 2nd Wife About Having AIDS
It’s no secret that Mike Tyson had a troubled personal life; this was the case with his first two marriages. While Tyson’s third marriage continues to be successful, his first two marriages were full of drama. Let’s look at the time Mike Tyson lied about having AIDS.
Mike Tyson’s first two marriages
In the late ’80s, Tyson dated and married actress and model Robin Givens. The two were married for just over a year before they divorced. Their relationship was full of drama. Givens made many accusations about him. In fact, he even admitted to punching her once. He said he punched her during an argument, and that it was “the best punch” he’d ever thrown in his life.
After this rocky marriage, Tyson dated a lot. He also got convicted of rape and received a six-year prison sentence. After serving three years, he was released on parole. Not long after, he met and married Monica Turner in 1997. While this marriage lasted longer than his first, it wasn’t successful either.
Mike Tyson lied to his wife about having AIDS
Tyson had always been a sexual person. In his autobiography, Undisputed Truth, he went into detail about his sexual escapades. According to the Daily Mail, even when he was in prison, he was sleeping around a lot.
Tyson claimed that not only did he have sex with the women who visited him, but he also had sex with his drug counselor after he paid to fix her roof. He was so sexually active that he even bragged he was too tired to train in jail. Tyson didn’t tone down his sexual activities when he was freed from prison, either. Even while married to Turner, he was cheating on her, according to the Daily Mail.
Right before Turner had enough and filed for divorce in 2002, Tyson even said that he told her that he had AIDS. This wasn’t true, of course, as the Daily Mail said that Tyson never had HIV/AIDS. Regardless, his wife divorced him, and he was back to his old ways not long after.
Many athletes haven’t lied about AIDS, though
Since Tyson confessed to this in his autobiography years later, most people just saw this lie as a reflection of how messed up Tyson was. He’s a better man now, and he was very critical of himself in his autobiography.
That said, many athletes have firsthand experience with HIV/AIDS, and their experiences are serious. To be clear, HIV is a virus that can cause an infection; AIDS is a condition, according to Healthline. Having HIV can lead to the development of AIDS.
Tommy Morrison was a great heavyweight boxer active at around the same time as Tyson was. According to ESPN, the two were close to fighting once. However, in 1996, he tested positive for HIV, and after that, his boxing career came to a halt. He died in 2013 at the age of 44, and he spent his last years denying his diagnosis, according to ESPN.
And of course, there’s Magic Johnson. The NBA Hall of Famer has HIV. Nowadays, he’s an outspoken activist in the HIV/AIDS community. Thanks to medical science, Johnson has been able to stop HIV from turning into AIDS, and he continues to advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and cures to this day.
