Lance Bass says getting diabetes was “a blessing in disguise”.
The NSYNC singer was first diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes during the COVID pandemic but it was later changed to Type 1.5, otherwise known as latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA) and he believes the disease has made him healthier.
He told TMZ: “You know what, it was actually a blessing to develop diabetes later in life because it has made me super healthy. I feel great, better than I ever have, so hopefully I can encourage people out there to take better care of themselves.”
He added a warning: “Kids don’t eat all that sugar.”
LADA is similar to Type 1 diabetes, where the pancreas stops producing insulin, but develops slowly in adults over the age of 30.
Lance, 46, previously admitted it had been "really hard" to keep his condition under control at first.
He told PEOPLE: "I developed diabetes during COVID, and I'm really trying to figure out how to control that. I'm definitely conscious of my eating now.
"I'm learning what you can eat, when you can eat, when you take your insulin - and all that has just been really hard lately."
Lance - who has three-year-old twins Alexander and Violet with husband Michael Turchin - has put a huge focus on his health since he received his diagnosis.
He shared: "The older I get, the more I know I have to take care of my body. So I work out when I can.
"Exercising is so key right now, but it's hard for me because of my schedule to get to a gym. So I do have a nice set-up at my house and I get 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there.
"The biggest thing that I've learned is to drink tons and tons of water. You think you're drinking too much water, [but] you need to drink even more than that."
