- Lead singer Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for 20 years.
- The group's “JONAS20: Greetings from Your Hometown Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s 20-year journey with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how these two anniversaries have influenced his life and how he uses his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
In 2025, the number 20 carries special significance 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 diagnosis.
“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.”
Parallel to the band’s experience over the last two decades, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments managing diabetes. The difficulties of controlling his disease have been the low points, while advocating and engaging others as a spokesperson and through his non-profit have brought him joy.
“In summary, I’m really grateful to have been able to be open about [type 1] and to connect with all these amazing 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,” he added.
Nick Jonas’ A1C Shoutout to His Audience
To thank his fans, on World Diabetes Day (November 14), he took to the stage during a Jonas Brothers concert and surprised his audience by sharing an inspiring message of hope, along with a shout-out to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a collection of numbers over a three-month period, was the best it’s ever been, actually, most recently,” said Jonas.
The show was visited by members of a global community — a network of more than 30,000 people worldwide who share their experiences with diabetes to help promote 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 obviously very personal to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s fitting to get introspective and to tap into sort of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person managing this condition,” he said.
Jonas dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a tune he wrote at the start of his career and diabetes journey, to those affected by 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 experiences 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 belong to that has lifted me up in so many various moments. I think my perspective is possibly a lot more optimistic now. It is feasible to live a big, busy life while managing this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an important piece to powering through.”
Progress in Type 1 Diabetes
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 constant cycle of injections, guesswork, and care, according to a board certified endocrinologist.
“Delivery devices superseded multiple daily insulin injections. With time, insulin pumps became less bulky and more advanced, and eventually learned to ‘communicate’ with the sensors,” the expert explained.
“Automated systems began adjusting insulin on their own, creating combined ‘automated delivery’ systems that lift some of the mental burden people with type 1 bear every day.”
Jonas is impressed with how far technology has advanced since he was first identified.
“The fact that I can receive instant data 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 controlling the condition and slowing or altering the disease itself are being researched.
“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 gained real traction. In labs around the world, scientists are growing lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to shield them from immune attack,” the doctor continued.
“Responsive insulin” is also being developed to activate only when blood sugar increase, offering a future where insulin works as intuitively as the body once did.
“More advancements will absolutely continue to emerge. We’re no longer just improving tools; we’re getting nearer to transforming the disease itself,” the expert concluded.
Nevertheless, while another medical professional agrees that further advancements will continue to appear, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an demanding undertaking — physically, cognitively, and psychologically.
“I sincerely hope that we’ll see more and more attention to talking about and helping with the challenges and the demands of living with and controlling T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he told.
The Singer Employs Personal Wellness to Control His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas discussed some approaches he leans on to handle his diabetes.
First, 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, reset, 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 apply this early during his diagnosis.
Lately, 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 better. 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 helpful.”
He also walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his bodily, cognitive, and psychological 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 venue or on a movie location or something,” he said.
He relies on his therapist regularly, too.
“I think it’s really important to do that self-work,” Jonas said.
Most of all, he urges everyone living with type 1 diabetes to engage with the diabetes community.
“There will be positive days, there will be challenging days, but you can climb this mountain, and there’s some remarkable people out there whose experiences will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
