- Frontman Nick Jonas has been living with type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The group's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” marks its 20th anniversary concurrent with Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how both milestones have impacted his life and how he uses his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 holds particular meaning for renowned artist 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.
“It’s crazy how it lined up,” Jonas remarked. “It's been an incredible ride in both… regarding the band, 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 world’s greatest fans.”
Alongside the band’s experience over the last 20 years, he said he has had great and tough moments living with diabetes. The difficulties of controlling his disease have been the low points, while raising awareness and connecting with others through his role and through his foundation have brought him joy.
“Overall, I’m really grateful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to interact with all these wonderful people from all corners of the world who are experiencing their own diabetes journey, and it’s a really big thing to feel like you’re a little less alone in it,” he added.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout 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 uplifting message of hope, along with a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a average of numbers over a 90-day period, was the most favorable it’s ever been, in fact, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was attended by members of a global community — a collective of more than 30,000 people worldwide who discuss their experiences with diabetes to help promote a message of resilience, determination, and optimism.
“It was really meaningful for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ platform 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 explore kind of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person managing this disease,” he said.
Jonas offered 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 fan base,” he said.
While the song has taken on a new meaning for him as an adult, he said it is still relevant.
“Now I [have] this vast, supportive community that I am part of that has supported me in so many various moments. I think my perspective is possibly a lot more positive now. It is possible to live a big, busy life while managing this disease and outlook and perspective and all that is an essential piece to powering through.”
Advancements in Type 1 Diabetes
In the past, life with type 1 diabetes meant more than five daily shots a day and glucose checks 10 or more times daily. This was a constant cycle of injections, estimation, and care, as stated by a licensed endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices replaced 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 lift some of the mental burden people with type 1 carry every day.”
Jonas is amazed 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 when I am apart from is just an amazing thing,” he said.
Alongside technology, new therapies aimed at managing diabetes and delaying or altering the disease itself are in development.
“The first immune-therapy capable of postponing type 1’s onset was authorized, and research into protecting or even replacing the body’s insulin-producing cells acquired real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are growing lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and experimenting with ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” the doctor continued.
“Responsive insulin” is also being developed to become active only when glucose levels increase, offering a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.
“More advancements will definitely continue to develop. We’re no longer just improving tools; we’re getting closer to changing the disease itself,” the physician stated.
However, while another medical professional agrees that additional innovations will continue to develop, he notes that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive undertaking — in terms of health, cognitively, and emotionally.
“I truly hope that we’ll see more and more attention to discussing and addressing the challenges and the demands 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 discussed some strategies he relies on to manage his diabetes.
To begin, he said he learned to be less hard on himself.
“You’re never going to have the perfect day living with this disease and even if you’re super on top of 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 important,” he said.
While this is difficult 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 simple thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are better. I don’t know exactly why, but I just find that hydrating has a lot of health advantages,” said Jonas. “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 walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, cognitive, and emotional health.
“It really grounds 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 leans on his therapist frequently, too.
“I think it’s really vital to do that personal development,” Jonas said.
Above all, he encourages everyone managing type 1 diabetes to take part in 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 inspire anybody that’s going through difficult times,” said Jonas.
