Damon Wayans Sr. isn’t laughing about the moment his health caught up with him. The comedy legend revealed he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 47 after a medical emergency that nearly turned fatal.
“When I got diagnosed with diabetes, I needed triage,” he said to People, recalling the hospital visit that came after his blood sugar spiked to a dangerous level. “My sugar was at 535, which is not sustainable.”
That wake-up call forced immediate changes. Wayans said he had to start insulin, overhaul his diet, and commit to regular exercise just to stabilize. “Just knowing that then set me on a path to learning more about what I can do to control it,” he explained, adding that some things require medical intervention: “There are things that I can’t do and need to let a doctor do.”
Now 65, the In Living Color star is using his experience to push a message he feels isn’t heard enough—especially in communities where people hesitate to seek care.
“We have a lot of fears… with hospitals and doctors,” he said, pointing out that many try to manage symptoms on their own instead of getting checked. “It doesn’t hurt to know, but it can hurt not to know. It can be life-threatening.”
Those warnings carry weight. According to the Office of Minority Health, diabetes continues to disproportionately affect Black Americans, who face higher diagnosis rates and more severe complications, including kidney disease, amputations, and vision loss.
Wayans is now helping to spotlight one of those complications—diabetic macular edema (DME)—through work with Genentech and the nonprofit DiaTribe, aiming to raise awareness of a condition that can quietly damage eyesight.
He also called out the tendency to rely on quick fixes instead of real answers. “Someone would go get some eyeglasses from the drugstore… and think that that’s enough, and it’s not,” he said, stressing the importance of understanding what’s happening internally. “Know what’s going on inside of you.”
Even so, Wayans hasn’t lost his core instinct to find humor in tough moments. “I think if you can laugh, it’s not that bad,” he said. But the message underneath isn’t a joke. “There’s no crime in knowing,” he added. “Once you know, then you can go about and try and do it your way.”
