Lee Daniels is a household name in Hollywood but before the fame and fortune Daniels was struggling to love and find himself. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter Daniels said:
"It hit the community hard. It was terrifying, because we never knew whether you could drink from glasses or what it was. It was the most terrifying thing ever. And I didn't understand why it was that I wasn't [dead], because there were far better souls than me that were going," he explained. "I thought that I needed to go. And so I descended into drugs and into sexual bath houses to die. That I don't have AIDS is a miracle from God. I don't understand it. I really don't understand it. Because I should have had HIV. Everybody else did."
Daniels says that his past made him determined to make it in Hollywood. While Daniels is filled with gratitude for his success today, his biggest obstacle wasn't his environment or living situation. Instead, Lee believes it was himself.