Jon Gould

Warhol lived in fear of illness, especially after being shot in the abdomen in 1968. Even after his close friends began dying of AIDS, he continued to make serophobic remarks. He first mentioned "the gay cancer" in his diaries in February 1982, referencing a party where he saw the model Joe MacDonald, "I didn’t want to be near him and talk to him because he just had gay cancer."

The Hollywood producer Jon Gould was Warhol’s partner for five years and, by most accounts, the love of Warhol’s life. Gould was admitted to the hospital in February 1984 with pneumonia, then released and readmitted. The day he returned home, Warhol—incorrectly believing that HIV could be transmitted through casual contact—instructed his housekeepers, "From now on, wash Jon’s dishes and clothes separate from mine." Gould died in September 1986 at age 33. He was 70 pounds and blind and denied having AIDS.