Nick Jonas reveals how his brothers help him manage diabetes on tour: ‘They give me grace’

Life is always full of highs and lows, but when you're living with Type 1 diabetes, the rollercoaster ride is a bit more intense. Just ask Nick Jonas.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to managing your diabetes. It’s going to be an ever-changing thing with age and life experiences," the singer tells TODAY.com.

The 31-year-old, who makes up one third of the Jonas Brothers, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13, and he's experienced a plethora of career and personal highlights ever since, all the while advocating for diabetes awareness.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that affects the pancreas’ ability to produce insulin. "People with T1D are dependent on injected or pumped insulin to survive," per the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

Jonas, who appears in DexCom's new #SeeDiabetes campaign in honor of World Diabetes Day on Nov. 14, has learned how to manage his Type 1 diabetes to the best of his ability, but says he’s experienced challenges at “milestone moments” in his life.

“When I was diagnosed, obviously the lows there are, the emotional toll when you ask yourself, ‘What did I do? How did this happen?’” he recalls.

Looking back on that time in his life, Jonas says he would offer the advise his younger self: “Take a deep breath and know that there are going to just be days that are tough, and it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything irresponsible to end up in a spot where your glucose goes higher or low. It’s just an unpredictable disease and it’s not your fault.”

In his early 20s, Jonas also encountered some challenges on his diabetes journey as he began “drinking and stepping out late nights with friends.”

“I had to really take my health seriously amidst that and figure out how different things would affect me,” he says. "Throughout all these milestone moments in my life — whether they were good or challenging moments — having access to information (about my blood glucose levels with DexCom technology) has been life changing."

Jonas also credits his parents, Kevin and Denise, for handling his diagnosis with “grace” and supporting him in his health and professional journeys over the years.

“For any parent, it’s just the most horrible thing when something happens to your child and their health. And you also have to find a way to be their strength while you’re hurting,” he says.

The singer and his wife, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, welcomed their first child, a daughter named Malti, in January 2022. According to the American Diabetes Association, children have a 1 in 17 chance of developing Type 1 diabetes if their father has it. So his daughter's status is something Jonas is keeping a close eye on.

“We’ve definitely had the conversation,” the Dexcom partner says.

The importance of a support system

Jonas is one of the founders of the nonprofit organization Beyond Type 1, and will soon be launching a campaign about recognizing the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.

“This year, we’re expanding that to the role of the support group — the parents, parental figures or even just brothers and sisters — and making sure that if someone’s experiencing some of these symptoms, that you go and get checked,” he says.

Of course, the singer has found a strong support system in his brothers and bandmates, Kevin and Joe.

“They’re incredibly supportive, and really help normalize it,” he says.

Jonas’ siblings always make sure he has juice and a fruit snack by his bedside table when he stays over their houses, and he’s grateful that they jump into action when a bout of low or high sugar does occur.

“They understand that if I was irritable for an hour, that it’s probably because my glucose is high. And they give me grace, or make sure that if I’m starting to go low that I’ve got the juice I need or whatever at my disposal quickly,” he says.

The conversation about Type 1 diabetes mostly focuses on the physical health of diabetics, but Jonas is eager to remind people that focusing on mental health is also critical.

“It’s super important for people to have that conversation around the mental health aspect, not just for the individual, but for their families and support system,” he says.

The Jonas Brothers are currently on tour, and Jonas says the three-hour show helps him prioritize his health while he’s on the road.

“It’s a marathon because we’re playing all five albums in one night, so it’s basically a workout. I’m burning a ton of calories every night,” he says. “The other part is that I make sure I’m eating meals that support my ability to go and be the best that I can be on stage each night, and have my diabetes not interfere with that.”

Managing misconceptions about T1D

When it comes to misconceptions about type 1 diabetes, Jonas has heard it all, and he can typically laugh them off. But there's one misconception that used to particularly bother him.

"The thing that I think all of us diabetics laugh about because we all hear it or have heard it at different points (is when people say), 'Oh, diabetes, that means you can’t have sugar.' Or, 'Did you eat a lot of sugar when you were a kid?'" he says. "It used to really frustrate me and I would get incredibly defensive and chirp back at them."

These days, Jonas simply shrugs it off and realizes that moments like these are proof of how important ongoing education can be.

"Education is part of the conversation. With Type 1 or Type 2, you can have sugar and you just have to take insulin. There are all these things that we just have to educate people on," he says.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com