These are his confessions.
You might know Usher from one of his many mega-hits — like “U Got It Bad,” “Confessions” (parts I and II), “Yeah!”, or “Love in the Club,” to name just a few — his Vegas residency, or the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show. In fact, if you’ve listened to the radio at any point in the last 30 years, there’s almost no way you haven’t encountered him. The R&B superstar has a whopping eight Grammys under his belt to date and was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s BET Awards. In addition to his expansive music career (which includes three Guinness World Records, for the length of time his songs have stayed on the Billboard charts), Usher is also the founder of the nonprofit Usher’s New Look, which works with under-resourced youth to help them through schooling and building a career.
But what you might not know about the King of R&B is that his life has been impacted by Type I diabetes: one of his children was diagnosed when they were six years old. They’re in good company: Approximately 2 million Americans deal with the condition. So this month, the singer teamed up with Beyond Type 1, an organization that funds advocacy and research, to shed light on new data about the risk of type 1 diabetes and the importance of early screening.
First, a little background on these new findings: In March 2024, Beyond Type 1 engaged Sanofi for a survey focusing on the emotional, social, and financial burdens of dealing with T1D — particularly before obtaining a diagnosis. They engaged 1,000 adults in the U.S. living with type 1 diabetes to measure “The Cost of Not Knowing” that they have the condition.
Kristian Hurley, SVP of programs, advocacy, and health equity for Beyond Type 1, tells Katie Couric Media that the diagnosis is often a life-changing one: “79 percent of adults with T1D and 83 percent of caregivers had to change the way that they live their life,” she says. What’s more, 98 percent of adults required emergency care for T1D symptoms before or during their diagnosis — and half of them spent at least $5,000. These costs could have been avoided with early screening.
Type 1 diabetes can’t be cured, but it can be managed with insulin and a proper diet. Many people think they can only test for T1D with a blood test after they’re already experiencing symptoms such as excessive thirst or hunger, frequent urination, irritability, and fatigue, but in fact, autoantibody screening can evaluate a person’s risk for developing the condition — and can identify early stages of T1D before symptoms start to show. Beyond Type One’s survey found that 85 percent of adults with T1D said they wished they’d known about their risk of having the condition before their diagnosis, and 68 percent regret not taking an autoantibody test to better understand their risk.
What’s equally striking is that a whopping 93 percent of caregivers for someone with T1D say they wish they’d learned about their loved one’s risk of developing the condition before diagnosis. Usher is among that 93 percent: “The reality is, had I known a year earlier, I may have been able to do things differently to ease us into the process,” he tells us. Here’s more on what the singer learned along the way.
Katie Couric Media: What was your path to receiving a diagnosis for your child?
Usher: My child was diagnosed around the age of six. Myriad things that happened led me to the suspicion that something was going on with them. I spoke with people who had knowledge of the symptoms [they were experiencing] and suggested it could potentially be type 1 diabetes. I was in disbelief because no one in my family had type 1 diabetes, let alone a child. We were blindsided by it.
So I went to my physician, got [my child] screened, and we received the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. I couldn’t have prepared for this journey, and I had tons of questions. My child’s life is really dependent upon taking insulin, and it’s a very serious situation. You really have to reacclimate your approach to life. We did a lot of research to understand what it’s like to live with type 1 diabetes, such as carb-counting, the signs that your child has low blood glucose levels, and a host of other things.
What surprised you the most?
How little knowledge the world has of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes and how easily they can be lumped together. We come from a family that didn’t have any Type 1 diabetics. There were elders who were Type 2 diabetics and needed to administer insulin, so we had some understanding of how to treat high blood sugars, but nothing quite like this.
Every time I leave my child in someone else’s care, I have to go through a process to prepare them. That’s a very difficult process to go through alone — not just to understand it but also to become a teacher of it. Now, years later, I understand the sense of shame or anxiety my child felt around having high blood glucose levels, or being in situations that may have potentially been dangerous. It’s a bit hard with kids because they want to just eat freely, and I want my child to have that same freedom. But as a diabetic, you have to take certain precautionary measures.
Are there any snacks or foods that you keep on hand or in the house?
I try to keep everything as sugar-free as possible. We use glucose gels, and yogurt has really been helpful — also [sugar-free] chocolate milk, which is something that kids naturally like anyway. I always recommend speaking to your physician and those who are creating the world that you’re going to function and operate in, like an endocrinologist. They can customize a plan.
You recently got married — how’s that been going?
It’s looking good on me, I’m really enjoying it. We just had an incredible date night at the Gordon Parks Foundation’s annual gala. It’s really good to be able to dress up, go out, and have a good time with your mate. Those things never get old. I work very hard; she works very hard in the music industry. But our greatest pleasure is being able to enjoy each other.
I have a wonderful partner — an incredible friend who’s very caring and patient. She wasn’t a part of my life when my child was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, but everybody who’s around ultimately becomes a part of the village. It’s sometimes a thankless job. So to each and every parent and step-parent out there who has to support, advocate, and have the patience that you need to care for a child with type one diabetes, I take my hat off to you.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
