One of the co-stars of the hit TLC reality show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" has revealed he’s HIV positive and says he wants his own show. Lee Thompson — who is called Uncle Poodle on the show — said the new show would illustrate "what it is like being gay in the South," according to an interview with Thompson in the gay-focused publication Fenuxe.com.

Thompson said he tested negative for HIV in March 2012, but was tested again in May, when the tests came back positive.

"I knew it had been my boyfriend who infected me. I later learned he had been HIV positive and was not taking medication and had not bothered to tell me about it," he says. "I was advised that I should press charges and, hesitantly, I did. It was the right thing to do."

Thompson added that his ex-boyfriend is serving a five-year sentence.

He said he’s known he was gay since he was 16, and that his mother was supportive, although his father struggled for four years.

Asked where his nickname "Uncle Poodle" came from, he noted, "From Alana. She calls all gay men ‘my poodles’ and I am her Uncle Poodle," referring to his niece, Alana Thompson, who is known as Honey Boo Boo.

Lee Thompson