James Earl Jones reveals diabetes battle

Highly acclaimed award-winning actor James Earl Jones goes from Darth Vader to diabetes spokesman.

The original voice of Darth Vader has revealed he has been battling type 2 diabetes for two decades.

James Earl Jones has teamed up with Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, to launch a new online campaign aimed at helping fellow diabetics manage the condition - and that meant he had to come clean about his links to diabetes.

"I'm aware of the mission we all have of living well with it (diabetes)," the Star Wars veteran told The Huffington Post.

"I will always be a diabetic, but there is a way to live well with it, there's a way to live with it so I can keep working.

"I'm 85, but I can still work. I can still do eight shows a week in theatre and I love that. I love still being active in my life. But it's more important that I address diabetes, because I will always be a diabetic."

Through the Janssen Pharmaceuticals initiative, ICanImagine.com, visitors can take a quiz online to help them take control of their condition.

Jones admits he has been taking his health very seriously ever since he was first diagnosed in the early 1990s.

"I knew certain ethnic groups were at risk for type-2 diabetes," he added.

"Older people are at risk, my mother had it. So I should've been alerted, but no. One thing I thought was, 'It's never gonna happen to me'. So when it was discovered, it was by accident. And I feel lucky."

The US actor now wants more people to be aware that they are "at risk".

"I would certainly like to encourage more screenings," Jones said. "You won't ever make it go away, but you can make it better."


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Published 5 April 2016 2:58pm
Source: AAP


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