Nick Jonas Is Grateful for His Diabetes Journey: ‘I’m In the Best Health I’ve Ever Been In’

Nick Jonas has long been vocal about his health journey, having been first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13. Now, the singer says he’s feeling better than ever, and working on ways to help empower other people with the same condition.

One of those ways is working with medical device brand Dexcom on a new Super Bowl commercial to promote the company’s next-generation Dexcom G7 CGM System. Set to air during the second quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl, the commercial promotes the new CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) device, which lets users easily monitor their glucose levels, with real-time health stats and data sent to the user’s smartphone every five minutes.

The low-profile wearable lets people manage their diabetes in a pain-free way, with no more need to prick their fingers or use annoying glucose test strips. The device also sends real-time glucose readings directly to your device — no scanning or confusing imaging required.

Shot in L.A. last month, the new Super Bowl spot finds Jonas using a little CGI magic and slight of hand to unveil the Dexcom G7, which will be available as of February 17. The singer says he jumped on the opportunity to partner with Dexcom, to bring awareness to diabetes research and development.

“To speak about diabetes in this way and bring awareness to Type 1 and Type 2 [diabetes], and also the life-changing technology, is a really meaningful thing for me,” Jonas tells Rolling Stone. “Because I think back to 13-year-old, newly-diagnosed me, sitting in the hospital room, kind of wondering what my new reality was going to be. I didn’t have anyone at the time, or a person living with diabetes in the public eye, that that I could look up.”

“My hope,” Jonas says, “is that there are people out there who will feel a little less alone in their journey, by way of seeing diabetes spoken about on a stage as big as the Super Bowl.”

Jonas was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a teenager, which means his body creates little to no insulin, and requires regular medication. While he says he was unsure of how to handle his diagnosis when he first received the news, Jonas hopes ads like the Dexcom commercial will help take away any stigmas associated with the condition.

“It was frightening at first, because I didn’t have a total grip on on what my new reality was,” he admits. “But I felt like I was already sort of in the public eye to a certain degree, and I wanted to normalize it for me and for people that followed me at the time.”

Now 30 and married with a new daughter, Jonas says he’s “feeling really good” about his diabetes diagnosis and trying to stay healthy for his family. “It can still be a little overwhelming, but collectively over the past couple of years, I’m in the best health that I’ve ever been in, and really, just taking it one step at a time,” he says, adding that “my friends and family and people I work with really helped me kind of manage it the best I can.”

“If you’ve just tried to go it alone, it’s gonna be really tough,” he admits, “but I’m grateful to have such an amazing support system around me. Not every day will be perfect,” Jonas adds, as a word of encouragement. “There will be ups and downs, but I’ve been fortunate to live a healthy life and people can too.”

This is Jonas’ second time teaming up with Dexcom, after having worked together on a Super Bowl commercial in 2021. That ad focused on raising awareness for Dexcom CGM by showing how diabetes technologies have advanced over the last few decades.

The Super Bowl commercial comes on the heels of another big moment for Jonas, who was honored alongside his brothers last month with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“I don’t think any of us realized the weight of it, or the gravity of it all, until we saw [the star] on the ground,” he says. “We’re just really humbled and honored to have been recognized in that way.”

The Walk of Fame ceremony also served as a launching pad for the next Jonas Brothers album, which is due out May 5. “Getting a recognition like the Walk of Fame is a lot of times, at the end of [an artist’s] journey,” Jonas says. “But for us, it really just marked the start of a new chapter. And I think we’re just excited to jump in and have people hear this new music.”