Alyssa Milano praised “Who’s the Boss?” co-star Danny Pintauro over his courageous revelation to Oprah Winfrey that he’s been HIV positive for 12 years.
“I hate that it took him so long to feel comfortable, but I’m so glad that he is able to express himself now,” Milano told CBS’s “The Talk” during her guest-hosting stint on Tuesday.
“I guarantee you he will change so many lives and I’m so grateful that this disease is now being discussed again because it feels like there is such a long time that it wasn’t. He is a beacon of light,” the actress said tearfully.
Pintauro revealed on Saturday’s episode of Oprah Winfrey‘s “Where Are They Now?” that he’s been HIV positive for more than 12 years, and within hours of his televised interview, the actor became a worldwide trending topic, his face flooding news feeds from coast to coast.
“My head is spinning,” Pintauro told TheWrap on Monday. “My biggest fear was that I would come out and no one would care. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.”
Milano and Pintauro played brother and sister on the Emmy Award-winning sitcom “Who’s the Boss?” from 1984-1992 on ABC. Tony Danza starred as a single father (to Milano’s Samantha) who goes from playing professional baseball to being a male housekeeper, while Pintauro played Jonathan Bower, the son of Danza’s advertising executive boss (Judith Light).