- Lead singer Nick Jonas has been living with type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
- The band's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how both milestones have influenced his life and how he leverages his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 holds particular meaning for renowned artist Nick Jonas.
As the Jonas Brothers celebrate their 20th year together, 2025 also marks 20 years since their frontman's type 1 diabetes discovery.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” the singer stated. “It’s been a wild journey in both… in the Brothers sense, it’s been the adventure of a lifetime, and we’ve been so blessed to be able to do this for 20 years now and to have the support of the most amazing fans.”
Alongside the band’s experience over the last two decades, he said he has had great and tough moments managing diabetes. The struggles of managing his condition have been the lows, while advocating and connecting with others as a spokesperson and through his foundation have brought him joy.
“In summary, I’m really thankful to have been able to be transparent about [type 1] and to interact with all these wonderful people from all regions 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 isolated in it,” said Jonas.
The Singer's A1C Announcement to His Audience
To show appreciation to supporters, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he stepped onto the platform during a Jonas Brothers concert and delighted 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 three-month period, was the most favorable it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was visited by members of a worldwide group — a collective of more than 30,000 people globally who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of strength, perseverance, 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 obviously very personal to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get reflective and to explore kind of what life looks like for me as a now 33-year-old person managing this disease,” he said.
Jonas offered the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a melody he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes experience, to those living with the disease.
“It’s a really significant time for me to get to speak on stage like that and play a song that I wrote about these experiences when I was 14 and to see the effect it still has to this day with the fan base,” he said.
While the song has taken on a new meaning for him as an adult, he said it is still pertinent.
“Now I [have] this vast, supportive community that I belong to that has supported me in so many different moments. I think my outlook is possibly a lot more optimistic now. It is possible to live a full, active life while managing this disease and mindset and perspective and all that is an essential piece to persevering.”
Advancements in Type 1 Diabetes
Not long ago, life with type 1 diabetes involved more than five daily shots a day and finger sticks 10 or more times daily. This was a constant cycle of needles, guesswork, and care, as stated by a licensed endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the glucose monitors,” the expert explained.
“Algorithms began adjusting insulin on their own, creating combined ‘automated delivery’ systems that alleviate some of the cognitive load people with type 1 carry every day.”
Jonas is impressed with how far technology has advanced since he was first diagnosed.
“The fact that I can receive instant data 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 therapies aimed at controlling the condition and delaying or modifying the disease itself are being researched.
“The first immunotherapy capable of postponing type 1’s onset was authorized, and research into protecting or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating stem-cell–derived pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to shield them from immune attack,” said the specialist.
“Smart insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when glucose levels increase, offering a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.
“Further progress will absolutely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting closer to transforming the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
However, while a family physician concurs that additional innovations will continue to develop, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding undertaking — in terms of health, mentally, and psychologically.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more attention to discussing and addressing the burdens and the requirements of living with and controlling T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he told.
The Singer Employs Self-Care to Control His Diabetes
In addition to medication and technology, Jonas shared some strategies he relies on to handle his diabetes.
First, he said he learned to be less hard on himself.
“You’re never going to have the ideal day while managing this disease and even if you’re very diligent with your diabetes management, there are just things that are a little beyond your influence and being able to pause, recalibrate, and know that it’s going to be OK on the other side is really crucial,” he said.
While this is hard to do at times, he said he learned to apply this soon after his diagnosis.
Recently, he has focused on taking vitamins, caring for his skin, and staying hydrated.
“It’s a simple 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 focus 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, cognitive, and psychological health.
“It really centers me and even when it’s cold out, getting out in the fresh air is really important when a lot of my day, too, is spent inside for hours at a concert hall or on a film set or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist frequently, too.
“I think it’s really vital to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Above all, he urges everyone managing type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be challenging days, but you can scale this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose experiences will really inspire anybody that’s going through difficult times,” said Jonas.
