Gena Tew Slams Backlash Over Dating Man 31 Years Older

Social media influencer Gena Tew has hit back at criticism over her recently revealed relationship with a man who is 31 years her senior.

Tennessee-based Tew, 28, has been documenting her health journey in a series of social media posts since going public with her AIDS diagnosis in March 2022. In one TikTok clip, shared on June 11 and viewed over 14 million times, the model showed herself struggling to get up from her bed. Her weight had plummeted to 65 pounds, she revealed, and muscle atrophy had weakened her legs.

Her health has bounced back in recent months, she said, with her weight increasing to more than 100 pounds. Additionally, the CD4 count in her blood has been boosted through treatment. A CD4 count is a measure of the number of CD4 cells, a type of immune cell attacked by HIV.

While Tew has been candid about the ups and downs of her experience with AIDS, she has faced criticism in the weeks since she revealed that she is dating again.

After a TikTok user called Tew "gross" for getting into a relationship after her AIDS diagnosis, she responded this week with a video that showed a montage of photos of herself with her new partner.

The images showed the pair on various dates, as well as holding hands over a restaurant menu. An accompanying caption read: "31 year gap."

Tew's post was met with a flood of congratulatory messages and came one month after she shared details of her romance.

When contacted by Newsweek, Tew said that she met her 59-year-old partner in the New Year via a dating site, with the pair making things official in March.

"I have grown more into older [men] because they are more mature and understanding," she told Newsweek via email. "He doesn't judge me by what I have but who I am as a person."

Last month, in response to a TikTok user saying that Tew "shouldn't be allowed around public facilities" because of her diagnosis, the influencer hit back in another video.

"I wish you guys would wake up and not choose ignorance in the morning," a visibly exasperated Tew said in the video, which was posted in early April.

She went on to say that she was "untransmittable," adding, "If anyone cuts themself or I cut myself and we're all together, they're not gonna catch [anything]. Just like I won't infect them if I give them a kiss on the forehead.

"And you probably won't like to know that your girl is dating now. Yeah, I'm seeing somebody. And guess what? They don't have HIV or AIDS. What a shocker!" she said.

In a TikTok video shared last November, Tew said that her CD4 count had increased from 112 to 159 and that she was projecting it would be over 200 in the coming months.

"As my doctor sees it, they say on paper they will see it as HIV instead of AIDS," she added, explaining that once her CD4 count surpasses 200, she will be classified as living with HIV rather than AIDS.

HIV typically turns into AIDS in approximately eight to 10 years if left untreated, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Tew said last October that her undetectable status for HIV meant her potential partner could take precautions, such as going on the medicine called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which reduces the chances of contracting HIV through sexual intercourse or while injecting drugs.

Noting that there can sometimes be side effects associated with taking PrEP, Tew said her partner could also "just be smart and use a condom."

"I can have a normal life. Let's get rid of that stigma," she said as the video drew to a close. "AIDS isn't a death sentence. I survived—I'm a survivor."

Thanks to antiretroviral therapy, HIV/AIDS patients can suppress viral replication in the body and block transmission to others. The patients will subsequently have such a low level of HIV in their blood that it becomes undetectable in conventional analysis.

Dr. Laura Guay, vice president of research at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, told Newsweek that there are "currently more than 24 effective anti-HIV drugs that are commonly used in two- to four-drug combinations to reduce the amount of virus in the body—viral load—to extremely low levels that cannot be measured with our VL tests, called 'undetectable VL.'"

She continued: "Having undetectable VL is critical to preventing the progression of HIV infection to symptomatic infection or AIDS and preventing transmission of the virus to partners. It is important to seek medical care from an experienced HIV provider if you are HIV-positive."

Guay said a health care provider will determine which combination of drugs will work best to bring virus levels to undetectable. Also, sexual partners should be tested and get on treatment if positive, she said.

If a partner is HIV-negative, there are steps both people can take "to decrease the chance of passing on the virus, especially while you have detectable VL," she said.

"The most important thing that you can do is to take your anti-HIV drugs as directed consistently and track your VL results to get to undetectable. Until you have reached undetectable VL, you should use condoms consistently, and your partner can also take anti-HIV drugs to prevent infection," Guay said.

Update 5/11/23, 5:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from Tew.