Diabetes Health Feb/March Issue Out Now

As the new year begins, we return to an old friend in the diabetes community: rock star Bret Michaels.  You can find our current interview in this issue, but Diabetes Health first interviewed Bret in 2006. Before I talked to Bret back then, I read everything I could find about him.  From what I learned, it was clear that he did not appeal to everyone. In fact, after we printed our interview, some people canceled their subscriptions because they felt that we were promoting sex and drugs by talking candidly with Bret about a rock star’s life.

When I spoke to Bret five years ago, he had just finished shooting an episode of his television show “Rock of Love.”  I was impressed by how intelligent and articulate he was.  During the interview, we discussed his diabetes, his dating life, and his daughter. I couldn’t wait to see his new series.

Once the show aired, however, I could not believe that the man I had spoken to was the same man that I watched on TV. The first show I saw horrified me.  I was shocked that the Bret I had come to know would put up with such a group of hooligans as those desperate young ladies.   I found myself asking which was the true Bret Michaels:  the one who spoke to me, or the “Rock of Love” Bret.

It took me years to understand what a smart, media-savvy man Bret is.  Now, I completely respect his intelligent effort to reinvent himself in the eyes of the public.  There are parallels between how he reinvented himself over the years and how he courageously keeps himself motivated to take care of his diabetes. After all, people with diabetes have to continuously reinvent themselves in order to stay motivated.

Bret has cast a wider net by being public about his diabetes to increase awareness. In fact, some of his Twitter fans who have diabetes have become our Twitter fans as well. Today, thanks to his efforts to raise funds for the “Stop Diabetes” campaign of the American Diabetes Association, Bret has endeared himself to a larger audience.