Speaking up

Simon Cowell never had a clue.

Jamar Rogers — a food bank volunteer from The Bronx — auditioned for Seasons 8 and 9 of “American Idol” without ever disclosing he was living with HIV.

“I remember being completely petrified throughout that entire process that the producers would find out,” he says. “Maybe my roommate would find out. I just lived with this massive cloud over my head.”

Now, his secret is out.

Rogers 29, shared his condition with almost 20 million viewers when he auditioned Monday night for another singing show — NBC’s “The Voice.”

“I decided to come clean because, at some point, you have to decide that you want to live for something greater than yourself,” says Rogers, who landed a spot on Team Cee Lo.

Lewis Jacobs/NBC

TAKE TWO: Jamar Rogers (above) auditioned for “Idol” with pal Danny Gokey in 2009 and now he is featured on “The Voice”.

N/C

Rogers (right) auditioning with pal Danny Gokey (left) in 2009.

“As hard as I was trying to become this superstar, I felt like I had this obligation to give back to my community — to let people know that there is hope.”

Jamar says he contracted HIV about six years ago when he was living in Atlanta — and battling a longtime addiction to crystal meth.

“I had been using pretty hardcore for about five years,” he admits. “I had gotten down to 125 pounds. It was bad.

“None of my friends would let me live with them, because I was stealing from them. I literally was homeless. My whole family didn’t know where I was for like two years,” he said.

Rogers eventually moved to Milwaukee, where he found work waiting tables at P.F. Chang’s, joined a local church and eventually befriended another aspiring singer named Danny Gokey.

When the pair tried out together for “Idol” in 2009, only Gokey knew Rogers’ medical secret.

“I had been clean for two years when we auditioned for ‘Idol,’ ” he says. “I had told the producers about my drug use [but not his HIV status]. But they opted not to use that as part of my story,” Rogers says. “But ‘Idol’ is a different kind of show. Their audience is more conservative.”

Rogers says he decided to talk publicly about his demons when a young friend overdosed last year at age 25.

“I wanted to get the word out there that if you take your meds and you take care of yourself, [HIV] is no different from any other chronic illness,” he says.

“It is manageable. I have now been undetectable for five years. I don’t even get a cold. That is strictly by the grace of God.”