received a blow to his neck during a match; then later on while watching a televised recording of an interview he had given regarding his part in the resignation of Welsh coach Mike Ruddock, he fell ill and was rushed to hospital with a suspected stroke, which was brought on by a ruptured artery in his neck. It was feared that this could lead to his retirement, but he resumed playing at the start of the 2006–07 French rugby season. His way of celebrating tries by slapping his head comes from a popular celebration among Cardiff City supporters known as "the Ayatollah". His autobiography Proud, co-written with Michael Calvin, won Sports Book of the Year in 2015. On 17 November 2018, Thomas was assaulted in Cardiff because of his sexuality. He requested that South Wales Police deal with the 16-year-old assailant by way of restorative justice. On 14 September 2019, Thomas announced that he is HIV positive, with undetectable status, meaning that he is not infectious. On the following day he competed in the Ironman Wales event in Tenby, finishing 413th out of 2,039, having vowed to "break the stigma" around the illness. After feeling media pressure to do so and for National HIV Testing Week, Thomas also filmed a documentary with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and the Terrence Higgins Trust, which aired a few days later on 18 September. Publicising the documentary that morning, he told an interviewer for BBC Radio 5 Live that a journalist had revealed his HIV status to his parents before he had had the opportunity to do so himself. While Thomas declined to name the journalist or the paper they write for, he did say "everybody will know, especially of late", leading the Press Gazette to suggest it could be The Sun, given they had been criticised the previous day for reporting about the family of England cricketer Ben Stokes. A BBC documentary, Gareth Thomas: HIV and Me, aired in September 2019. Thomas was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to sport and health. Sexual misconduct allegation Thomas was accused of "deceptively" transmitting HIV to a previous partner, according to High Court legal papers. Thomas settled the case out of court for £75,000 plus costs "without admitting liability or guilt". Film In November 2011, actor Mickey Rourke said that he was planning