I mean, I fell to my knees," she told "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts. Additionally, Johnson, who scored 13 points and added 13 rebounds with 13 assists in Game 6 of the 1982 Finals, earned his second series MVP award. We had a wonderful conversation. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Cookie wrote in her 2016 memoir, Believing in Magic about the night he revealed to her that he had been diagnosed with HIV. Even after he joined the NBA, Johnson remembers entering a Mississippi diner on a family trip and being approached by a white server. Cookie Johnson is an entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and clothing designer. He is also a published author. It was a seismic moment, not only in the history of basketball, but in the continuing war on HIV and Aids, as an athlete of Johnsons stature vowed in public to raise awareness about the virus. He was called back home from a pre-season game in Utah, so that Lakers team physician Dr. Michael Mellman could deliver the news in person. Weve lost too many lives that we shouldnt have lost with both Aids and Covid-19 Johnson. Cameras flashed and reporters clamoured to ask questions, but Johnson, National Basketball Association (NBA) superstar and one of the worlds most revered athletes, appeared unfazed as he announced his immediate retirement. For Johnson, seeing Fauci speak about a new epidemic while reflecting on the HIV crisis of the 1980s has been sobering the racial disparities in American healthcare are stark. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. His father would send his children in groups of three to use the bathroom at truck stops to watch each others backs. Cookie recounted her exact emotions when Magic told her in a 2016 interview with Good Morning America. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cookie Johnson's estimated worth is about $50 million. "And she smacked me upside my head and said, 'We're going to beat this together. When EJ was on the show, Magic told TMZ that he was very happy for his son to be featured. #blackmarriageday earvin johnson jr. and earlitha kelly pic.twitter.com/jPYQrLom8C. I plan on going on living for a long time, bugging you guys like I always have, he told reporters, his optimism surprising those who viewed his condition as a death sentence. I mean, I had just found out I was pregnant so it was really early in the pregnancy," she said. Magic Johnson is rumoured to have hooked up with Kathleen Sullivan . Cookie Johnson and Magic Johnson got married in 1991 in Lansing, Michigan, just 45 days before Magic was diagnosed with HIV. The couple has three children together: Andre, EJ, and Elisa. In the year 1991. Earletha Cookie Johnson was born on January 20, 1959, in Alabama. He had married his long-time girlfriend Cookie in September of that year and they were expecting a baby.