NEW YORK -- Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, in a Sports Illustrated article that hits the newsstands Wednesday, writes, 'I did my best to accommodate as many women as I could,' and says he contracted the AIDS virus while having unprotected heterosexual sex.
Johnson, who retired from the Los Angeles Lakers last week after testing positive for HIV, wrote the article in conjunction with Roy Johnson (no relation), a Sports Illustrated writer and author of the basketball star's biography.
Among other points Johnson, who is vacationing in Hawaii, makes in the story:
--His biggest fear was that his pregnant wife was infected. She tested negative.
--He denied rumors he is gay, insisting he became infected after not using a condom and having sex with a woman.
--He still wants to play in the 1992 Olympics.
Johnson said he learned he had the virus after Dr. Michael Mellman, the Lakers team physician, called him in Salt Lake City and asked him to come home to Los Angeles immediately.
When Johnson saw his doctor, Mellman told him: 'You're HIV positive. You have the AIDS virus.'
'Suddenly, I felt sick,' Johnson writes. 'I was numb. In shock. And, yes, I was scared.'
He said his first thought was about his wife of two months, Cookie, who was seven weeks pregnant.
'My biggest fear was that she and the baby were also infected,' he wrote. 'That would have been more devastating to me than anything I might have to go through in fighting AIDS.
'As for myself, I had only one other thought: It's all over.'
Now Johnson says he is more optimistic, even claiming he will beat the disease that has no cure. Johnson admits he was ignorant about the disease at first, thinking it only affected 'gays and drug users. Not for someone like me.'
He also relates, 'I didn't know the difference between the virus and the disease. While my ears heard HIV positive, my mind heard AIDS.'
Johnson said rumors that he was homosexual began during the 1988 NBA Finals when he and Detroit Pistons guard Isiah Thomas kissed each other on the cheek before each game.
'By now I'm sure that most of America has heard rumors that I am gay,' he said. 'Well, you can forget that ... I have never had a homosexual encounter. Never.
'I am certain that I was infected by having unprotected sex with a woman who has the virus. The problem is that I can't pinpoint the time, the place or the woman. It's a matter of numbers. Before I was married, I truly lived the bachelor's life. I'm no Wilt Chamberlain, but as I traveled around NBA cities, I was never at a loss for female companionship. ...
'I confess after I arrived in LA in 1979, I did my best to accommodate as many women as I could -- most of them through unprotected sex,' meaning he did not wear a condom.
Basketball Hall of Famer Chamberlain writes in his recent book that he has had sex with an estimated 20,000 women in his lifetime.
Johnson's acknowledgment of his active sex life on the road comes after former University of Southern California and Olympic basketball star Pamela McGee characterized Johnson as a 'major womanizer.'
In a letter to the Los Angeles Times published Saturday, McGee wrote: 'Knowing his flamboyant lifestyle, it was bound to happen sooner or later. 'Magic's closest friends always knew him as a major player and womanizer. He has had one-night stands with what he calls 'freaks' across America.
'The reason he probably made it public is to warn the thousands of women he has slept with.'
Johnson wrote that he cried while telling his teammates before making his public announcement. First, he called five of his closest friends -- NBA rivals Thomas, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, former coach Pat Riley and talk show host Arsenio Hall.
'Larry cried,' he wrote. 'So did Arsenio. Isiah just didn't want to believe it. Pat and Michael listened in stunned silence.'
Johnson tried to keep an upbeat tone throughout the article, even predicting he would beat AIDS.
'We knew that I would probably contract AIDS within 10 years,' he wrote. '... I also said I was going to beat the disease. And I will.'
Johnson was one of 10 players selected in September to represent the U.S. basketball team at the Summer Olympics. At his news conference last week, Mellman said Johnson would not play any more basketball.
'Don't count me out for the '92 Olympics in July,' Johnson said. 'If I'm healthy, I might very well be on the floor for the opening tap in Barcelona. ... I've won every major award there is. But I don't have an Olympic gold medal. I want it. God willing, I'll get it.'
