- Lead singer Nick Jonas has been living with type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The group's “Anniversary Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how both milestones have influenced his life and how he leverages his music to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 carries particular meaning for iconic singer Nick Jonas.
As the Jonas Brothers celebrate their 20th year as a band, 2025 also marks 20 years since their lead singer'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 ride 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 wonderful and challenging moments living with diabetes. The struggles of controlling his disease have been the lows, while raising awareness and engaging others as a spokesperson and through his non-profit have been a source of happiness.
“Overall, I’m really grateful to have been able to be transparent about [type 1] and to interact with all these amazing 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 isolated in it,” said Jonas.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to His Audience
To thank his fans, 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 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, actually, most recently,” said Jonas.
The show was visited by members of a worldwide group — a network of over 30,000 people worldwide who share their experiences with diabetes to help spread a message of strength, perseverance, and positivity.
“It was really special for me to get to use the Jonas Brothers’ platform 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 introspective 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 dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes experience, 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 impact it still has to this day with the audience,” he said.
While the song has assumed a new meaning 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 supported me in so many different moments. I think my outlook is perhaps a lot more positive now. It is possible to live a full, active life while living with this disease and mindset and viewpoint and all that is an important piece to powering through.”
Advancements 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 each day. This was a never-ending cycle of injections, guesswork, and vigilance, according to a licensed endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices replaced multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became lighter and smarter, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the glucose monitors,” the expert explained.
“Automated systems began adjusting insulin automatically, creating combined ‘artificial pancreas’ 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 identified.
“The fact that I can receive real time readings of my glucose directly on 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.
In addition to technology, new therapies aimed at managing diabetes and slowing or modifying the disease itself are in development.
“The first immune-therapy capable of postponing type 1’s onset was approved, and research into protecting or even replacing the body’s insulin-producing cells acquired real traction. In labs around the world, scientists are cultivating lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” the doctor continued.
“Responsive insulin” is also being developed to activate only when blood sugar rises, promising a future where insulin works as naturally as the body once did.
“More advancements will definitely continue to develop. We’re no longer just enhancing devices; we’re getting nearer to transforming the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
Nevertheless, while a family physician agrees that further advancements will continue to appear, he notes that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding task — physically, mentally, and psychologically.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more attention to talking about and addressing the burdens and the demands of living with and controlling T1D. We need far more of that, too,” he told.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Manage His Diabetes
In addition to medication and technology, Jonas discussed some approaches he leans on to manage his diabetes.
To begin, 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 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 difficult to do at times, he said he learned to practice this early during his diagnosis.
Recently, he has focused on taking vitamins, caring for his skin, and staying well-hydrated.
“It’s a basic thing, but the more water I drink, my glucose levels are more stable. I don’t know precisely why, but I just find that drinking water has a lot of health benefits,” said Jonas. “I didn’t put as much focus on it earlier in my life 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 grounds 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 relies 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 engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be tough days, but you can scale this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose experiences will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
