DJ Fat Tony recalls being diagnosed with HIV in 2002 as doctors told him it had 'gone to his brain' after losing 'all of his peer group' to the disease

DJ Fat Tony recalled the day he was diagnosed with HIV in 2002 and doctors told him it had 'gone into his brain.' 

The musician, 60, who added that he sadly lost ‘all of his peer group’ to the disease, explained how he had put his symptoms down to 'drink and drugs' as his life was so de-railed by his addiction. 

Tony was ultimately left in a coma for four months because he went untreated for an unknown amount of time.

Joining Davina McCall on her podcast Begin Again, he admitted he 'had his funeral planned' due to addiction, so never considered a test for HIV. 

Recalling the day his mother found him on the floor, he said: 'I kept passing out, I kept fitting and I was putting it down to drink and drugs. 

'My mum came over and she found me unconscious in the kitchen. She rushed me to hospital and that was the day that I was diagnosed.'

He continued: 'It had gone into my brain. I had already lost all my peer group years before that 85' to 95'.' 

Davina added: 'It was terrifying how many people we lost. 

Tony added: 'Literally every great person. Everyone was there one day and the next day they were gone. They would go into hospital, they would catch a cold and that was it. 

'And what for? Why did they die? Why did they pass away in such a respectless way? People just shunned them and kicked them to the curb.' 

The flamboyant DJ, who grew up on an estate in Battersea - and was given his first line of coke by Freddie Mercury at the age of 15 - first found fame as a drag artist in the 80s before turning to the decks in the 90s, and becoming part of a party set that included Tracey Emin, Kate Moss and Madonna. 

Tony said he had 'built a life around destruction' but later managed to turn it all around. 

Previously writing about his HIV diagnosis in his memoir I Don't Take Requests, he said: 'There's so many kids today who don't know what we went through in the 80s. They're not educated on it, it was a hidden pandemic.

'The reality isn't always engaging, when I wrote the chapter of the book on HIV, I didn't want to lighten it, it is what it is.'

Tony added: 'How do you make light of losing your entire peer group, how do you make light of losing your boyfriend?

'I was so lost in my own world of addiction, the last thing I was going to do was go and get tested.'

In a past interview with the Daily Mail, Tony - who overcame a crippling addiction to drugs and alcohol more than 18 years ago - said how he 'was the problem.'

He explained: 'Since I got sober that reconnection to music is the best gift anyone could ever give me. Some people listen to music but I feel music, it is the best drug there ever is.

'Alcohol and drugs aren't the problem, I'm the problem. Being around it is no longer a problem for me because I choose not to do it. People ask me if I miss it and I think 'are you insane?'

'My life is so incredible because of the things I don't do. If I started doing those things again my life would be over, my career would be over.'

Tony had an epiphany and he soon quit drugs cold turkey, spending six months in rehab to beat the addiction.

He added: 'The first 3 months I thought how am I going to do this because for me there was no second chances, I'd reached the end of the road with drink and drugs.

'I got to 7 stone, I had no teeth, I was completely gone. Suddenly the pilot light came on one night and the love from one person saved my life.

'From that moment on I chose to go to rehab for 6 months and then come to London, it was a really big thing because I knew at that point I would never go back.'