Judith Light couldn't be more proud of her TV son, Danny Pintauro.
It turns out Danny Pintauro has had a strong supporter in his corner for years -- Who's the Boss? star Judith Light, who played his mom, Angela Bower, on the beloved '80s sitcom.
Pintauro, now 39, revealed he's HIV-positive during his appearance on Oprah's Where Are They Now? this past Saturday. In a new interview with Fox 5 NY, 66-year-old Light says she's actually been advising him since he first publicly announced he was gay in 1997, after the National Enquirer threatened to out him.
"He has kept me informed all the way along," Light says. "When he was talking about coming out because he was going to be outed ... he called ... and I said, 'Danny, I think you need to have a conversation with Herb (my longtime manager) about how to do this. They’re going to out you so you should be talking about how you want to handle it with the press.'"
Pintauro is now married to his husband, Wil Tabares, and has been since April 2014. In his emotional interview with Orpah, the former child star revealed that he's been HIV positive for 12 years.
"He is being incredibly proactive," Light praises him. "He’s giving a different face to what is still a disease that has still not been handled."
As for her TV son's diagnosis, the actress surprisingly says she "wasn't worried" when he told her the news.
"No, I wasn't worried because I knew he was taking responsibility for it, and I knew that he was taking care of himself," she explains. "And you could see how well he's doing."
ET talked to Pintauro on Monday, when he shared he himself was devastated when he heard the news 12 years ago. "It's like anybody hearing you have terminal cancer or something awful," Pintauro said candidly. "My life is forever changed."
The former sitcom star admitted that he contracted HIV because he wasn't careful and was having unprotected sex. He also said that, drugs, specifically meth, played a major part as well. According to Pintauro, this was the part that most disappointed his Who's the Boss? co-star, Tony Danza.
"I tell anyone who asks," Pintauro told ET about his HIV diagnosis. " ... Tony was great, but I can tell he was a little disappointed for the drugs part more than anything. I told Judith many years ago."
WATCH: Danny Pintauro on HIV Diagnosis -- 'It's Like Hearing You Have Terminal Cancer'
Watch our interview with Pintauro below:
