'Who's the Boss' star Danny Pintauro: I'm HIV-Positive

Since 2003 actor Danny Pintauro, who many know from his days on the 80s sitcom Who's the Boss?, has been keeping a secret. But on Saturday's episode of Oprah: Where Are They Now? he revealed to the world that he is HIV-Positive.

"I wanted to tell you this a long time ago, but I wasn't ready. I'm ready now," Pintauro told Oprah Winfrey in an intense interview on the show. "I'm HIV-positive, and I have been for 12 years."

Why did he keep it to himself for so long? "It's just a big deal, you know?" he said. "It's not something that people are really talking about right now."

This is not the first time Pintauro's private life has been in the spotlight -- the actor was outed as gay in a 1997 National Enquirer article, against his wishes. "I was outed," Pintauro recalled to Winfrey. "It wasn't by choice.

He went on to explain how he was originally diagnosed with HIV back in 2003. "I was living in New York at the time and completely clueless to the idea that I was positive," he said. "I went in for a regular checkup. It was just regular blood work. You go in, and you sort of waited two weeks on pins and needles -- or at least I did, because I was just terrified of the idea of getting HIV."

He also talked about the fact that he was using crystal meth at the time of the diagnosis.

"I was doing crystal meth, which completely ruins your immune system. I'd been doing it at that point very briefly, but it was three weeks or so, off and on. I had just come out of a two-year relationship, and I discovered in that relationship that there was more I wanted to explore sexually. Crystal meth takes away your inhibitions... And if you want to explore that adventurous side, taking the drug is going to put you there. I was experimenting. And believe it or not, I thought that I was being safe in that encounter. I know exactly when it happened."

The actor did not go into further details, but he did say he regrets not knowing the name of the man from that encounter. "I regret not knowing that, because that person has completely changed my life," he says.

Pintauro discussed his conflicting emotions at the time of his diagnosis. "It was terrifying, and there was a sense of relief," he says. "It's backwards. You've spent so much time terrified that you're going to get it, and then you have it. You don't have to be terrified anymore."

12 years later Pintauro lives in Las Vegas with his husband, Wil Tabares, and works as a restaurant manager. He aspires to open a bed and breakfast with his husband one day. On Saturday he shared this Instagram with the caption, "Last meal as a nobody. ;) first meal as an activist. #lifelovelive."

He also had this message for the gay community during the interview: "What I want my community to realize is we need to take better care of ourselves."