“To speak about diabetes in this way and bring awareness to Type 1 and Type 2 [diabetes], and also the life-changing technology, is a really meaningful thing for me,” Jonas tells Rolling Stone. “Because I think back to 13-year-old, newly-diagnosed me, sitting in the hospital room, kind of wondering what my new reality was going to be. I didn’t have anyone at the time, or a person living with diabetes in the public eye, that that I could look up.”
“My hope,” Jonas says, “is that there are people out there who will feel a little less alone in their journey, by way of seeing diabetes spoken about on a stage as big as the Super Bowl.”
In order to treat his Type 1 diabetes, which results in his body producing little to no insulin, Nick Jonas must take regular medications. Jonas admits that when he first learned of his diagnosis, he wasn't sure how to react, but he believes that advertisements like the Dexcom campaign would help dispel any stigmas attached to the condition.“It was frightening at first, because I didn’t have a total grip on on what my new reality was,” he admits. “But I felt like I was already sort of in the public eye to a certain degree, and I wanted to normalize it for me and for people that followed me at the time.”
Nick Jonas, who is now 30 and married with a baby daughter, says he is "feeling pretty good" about his diagnosis of diabetes and is making an effort to stay healthy for his family. I'm in the finest health I've ever been in, and really, just taking it one step at a time, he says, adding that "my friends, family, and people I work with really helped me kind of manage it the best I can." He admits that it can still be a little overwhelming.“If you’ve just tried to go it alone, it’s gonna be really tough,” he admits, “but I’m grateful to have such an amazing support system around me. Not every day will be perfect,” Jonas adds, as a word of encouragement. “There will be ups and downs, but I’ve been fortunate to live a healthy life and people can too.”
Following their collaboration on a Super Bowl commercial in 2021, Jonas and Dexcom are working together once more on this project. The purpose of such advertisement was to promote Dexcom CGM by demonstrating how diabetes technology has developed over the past few decades.