- Frontman Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” marks its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how both milestones have influenced his life and how he uses his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 carries particular meaning for iconic singer Nick Jonas.
While the band commemorates their 20th year as a band, 2025 also marks 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
“The alignment is remarkable,” the singer stated. “It's been an incredible ride in both… in the Brothers sense, it’s been the adventure of a lifetime, and we’ve been so fortunate to be able to do this for 20 years now and to have the support of the most amazing fans.”
Parallel to the band’s experience over the last two decades, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments living with diabetes. The difficulties of managing his condition have been the lows, while raising awareness and engaging others through his role and through his non-profit have been a source of happiness.
“Overall, I’m really thankful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to connect with all these wonderful people from all corners of the world who are experiencing their own diabetes path, and it’s a really significant feeling to feel like you’re a little less alone in it,” said Jonas.
The Singer's A1C Announcement to Fans
To show appreciation to supporters, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he stepped onto the platform during a Jonas Brothers concert and surprised his audience by sharing an inspiring message of hope, along with a mention to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a average of numbers over a 90-day period, was the best it’s ever been, in fact, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was visited by members of a global community — a collective of more than 30,000 people worldwide who share their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of strength, determination, and optimism.
“It was really special for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ stage as a place to speak about something that’s clearly very important to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get reflective and to tap into kind of what life looks like for me as a now 33-year-old person living with this disease,” he said.
Jonas dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote early in his career and diabetes journey, to those living with the disease.
“It’s a really important time for me to get to speak on stage like that and play a song that I wrote about these challenges when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the audience,” he said.
While the song has assumed a new significance for him as an adult, he said it is still relevant.
“Now I [have] this great, big community that I am part of that has lifted me up in so many various moments. I think my outlook is perhaps a lot more optimistic now. It is possible to live a big, busy life while managing this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an essential piece to powering through.”
Progress in Diabetes Management
Not long ago, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five insulin injections a day and glucose checks 10 or more times daily. This was a never-ending cycle of injections, guesswork, and care, as stated by a board certified endocrinologist.
“Insulin pumps superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became lighter and more advanced, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the sensors,” the expert explained.
“Automated systems began adjusting insulin automatically, creating hybrid ‘automated delivery’ systems that alleviate some of the mental burden people with type 1 bear every day.”
Jonas is amazed with how far technology has advanced since he was first diagnosed.
“The fact that I can receive real time readings of my glucose straight to my phone or smart watch or it can be [shared with] my wife or other family members who I’m traveling away from is just an amazing thing,” he said.
Alongside technology, new treatments aimed at controlling the condition and slowing or altering the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of delaying type 1’s onset was approved, and research into preserving or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real traction. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” said the specialist.
“Responsive insulin” is also being engineered to activate only when blood sugar increase, promising a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“Further progress will absolutely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting nearer to transforming the disease itself,” the physician stated.
Nevertheless, while another medical professional agrees that additional innovations will continue to develop, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding task — in terms of health, cognitively, and emotionally.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more attention to talking about and helping with the challenges and the requirements of living with and controlling T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he commented.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Control His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas discussed some approaches he leans on to handle his diabetes.
To begin, he said he learned to take pressure off himself.
“You’re never going to have the perfect day while managing this disease and even if you’re very diligent with your diabetes management, there are just things that are a little out of your control and being able to pause, recalibrate, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really important,” he said.
While this is hard to do at times, he said he learned to practice this soon after his diagnosis.
Recently, he has focused on taking vitamins, looking after his skin, and staying hydrated.
“It’s a basic thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are better. I don’t know precisely why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health advantages,” he noted. “I didn’t put as much emphasis on it when I was younger as I do now, and it’s been really beneficial.”
He also takes walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, mental, and emotional health.
“It really centers me and even when it’s cold out, getting out in the open air is really important when a lot of my day, too, is spent inside for hours at a venue or on a movie location or something,” he said.
He leans on his therapist frequently, too.
“I think it’s really important to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Most of all, he encourages everyone managing type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be positive days, there will be challenging days, but you can scale this challenge, and there’s some incredible people out there whose experiences will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
