- Frontman Nick Jonas has managed type 1 diabetes for two decades.
- The band's “Anniversary Tour” celebrates its 20th anniversary alongside Nick Jonas’s two-decade experience with diabetes.
- Nick Jonas shares how these two anniversaries have impacted his life and how he leverages his music to promote understanding for type 1 diabetes.
This year, the number 20 carries special significance for iconic singer 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,” Jonas remarked. “It’s been a wild journey in both… regarding the band, it’s been the ride of a lifetime, and we’ve been so fortunate 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 20 years, he said he has had wonderful and challenging moments living with diabetes. The difficulties of managing his condition have been the lows, while raising awareness and connecting with others as a spokesperson and through his foundation have brought him joy.
“Overall, I’m really thankful 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 path, and it’s a really big thing to feel like you’re a little less alone in it,” said Jonas.
The Singer's A1C Announcement to Fans
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 uplifting message of hope, along with a mention to his A1C.
“My A1C, which is a collection of numbers over a three-month period, was the best it’s ever been, in fact, most recently,” he revealed.
The show was visited by members of a global community — a collective of over 30,000 people globally who share their experiences with diabetes to help spread 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 clearly very important to me and on World Diabetes Day, I think it’s natural to get reflective and to tap into sort of what life looks like for me as a now thirty-three-year-old person living with this condition,” he said.
Jonas dedicated the song “A Little Bit Longer” — a melody he wrote early in 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 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 significance 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 optimistic now. It is feasible to live a big, busy life while living with this disease and outlook and viewpoint and all that is an essential piece to persevering.”
Progress in Type 1 Diabetes
Not long ago, life with type 1 diabetes meant more than five daily shots a day and finger sticks 10 or more times daily. This was a constant cycle of needles, guesswork, and vigilance, 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 ‘talk’ with the sensors,” the doctor noted.
“Algorithms began modifying 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 amazed with how far technology has advanced since he was first diagnosed.
“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 who I’m traveling away from is just an incredible thing,” he said.
In addition to technology, new treatments aimed at managing diabetes and slowing or altering the disease itself are in development.
“The first immunotherapy capable of delaying type 1’s start was approved, and research into protecting or even substituting the body’s insulin-producing cells gained real momentum. In labs around the world, scientists are growing lab-grown pancreatic beta cells and testing ways to protect them from the body's defenses,” said the specialist.
“Responsive insulin” is also being engineered to become active only when glucose levels rises, 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 closer to transforming the disease itself,” the physician stated.
However, while a family physician concurs that further advancements will continue to develop, he points out that managing type 1 diabetes remains an intensive undertaking — physically, cognitively, and psychologically.
“I truly hope that we’ll see more and more focus to talking about and helping with the burdens and the demands of having and managing T1D. We need much more of that, too,” he told.
Jonas Turns to Personal Wellness to Manage His Diabetes
Beyond medication and technology, Jonas discussed some strategies he relies on to handle his diabetes.
First, he said he learned to take pressure off himself.
“You’re never going to have the ideal day while managing this disease and even if you’re super on top of 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 hard 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 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,” he noted. “I didn’t put as much focus on it when I was younger as I do now, and it’s been really helpful.”
He also takes walks daily for 30 minutes or longer for his physical, mental, and psychological 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 concert hall 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 personal development,” Jonas said.
Above all, he urges everyone managing type 1 diabetes to take part in the diabetes community.
“There will be good days, there will be challenging days, but you can scale this mountain, and there’s some incredible people out there whose stories will really motivate anybody that’s going through difficult times,” he concluded.
