Current:Home > reviewsHydeia Broadbent, HIV/AIDS activist who raised awareness on tv at young age, dies at 39 -Horizon Finance School
Hydeia Broadbent, HIV/AIDS activist who raised awareness on tv at young age, dies at 39
View
Date:2025-04-15 17:08:28
Hydeia Broadbent, a life-long AIDS and HIV activist, has died, her family announced.
She was 39.
"With great sadness, I must inform you all that our beloved friend, mentor and daughter Hydeia, passed away today after living with Aids since birth," her father, Loren Broadbent wrote in a Facebook post. "Despite facing numerous challenges throughout her life, Hydeia remained determined to spread hope and positivity through education around Hiv/AIDS."
Born with HIV in 1984, Broadbent began raising awareness about the virus during her early years.
She made national headlines when she appeared as a guest on television programs including "The Oprah Winfrey Show" at age 11 and "Good Morning America". Additionally, she spoke at the 1996 GOP convention in San Diego, California.
Wendy Williams diagnoses:Talk show host Wendy Williams diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia
Hydeia Broadbent was adopted after abandonment
According to her website, Broadbent was adopted at birth by her parents after being abandoned at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.
At age three, doctors diagnosed the young girl with HIV.
Before she became a teen she became a public voice for the virus and later partnered with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation on several AIDS advocacy and awareness campaign including its “God Loves Me” billboard campaign.
Broadbent spent her time "spreading the message of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, by: promoting abstinence, safe-sex practices (for people who choose to have sex), and HIV/AIDS Awareness and prevention," according her website.
COVID-19, polio, HIV caused by viruses that have been identified and studied | Fact check
What is HIV?
HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, attacks the body's immune system and, according to the Centers for Disease Control, if not treated can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
According to HIV.gov, nearly 1.2 million people in the Unites States have HIV. Of them, the agency reports, closed to13 percent of them don’t know they have virus.
"The world has seen me grow from a gifted little girl to a woman with a passion and mission to make sure each and everyone of us is aware of our HIV status as well as the status of our sexual partners," she posted on the site prior to her death. "For those living with HIV/AIDS, please know life is never over until you take your last breath! We are responsible for the choices we make and I challenge everyone to be accountable."
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.
veryGood! (443)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Canada says Google will pay $74 million annually to Canadian news industry under new online law
- Fifth group of hostages released after Israel and Hamas agree to extend cease-fire
- Poland’s new parliament brings back state financing for in vitro fertilization
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- Tesla releases the Cybertruck this week. Here's what to know.
- Iowa teen believed to be early victim of California serial killer identified after 49 years
- Suspected drug cartel gunmen abduct 7 Mexican immigration agents at gunpoint in Cancun
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Henry Kissinger was a trusted confidant to President Nixon until the bitter, bizarre end
Ranking
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- UAW will try to organize workers at all US nonunion factories after winning new contracts in Detroit
- Former WWE star Tammy Sunny Sytch gets over 17 years in prison for deadly DUI crash
- More cantaloupe products recalled over possible salmonella contamination; CDC, FDA investigating
- Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
- A friendship forged over 7 weeks of captivity lives on as freed women are reunited
- Electric vehicles have almost 80% more problems than gas-powered ones, Consumer Reports says
- Feminist website Jezebel will be relaunched by Paste Magazine less than a month after shutting down
Recommendation
What to watch: O Jolie night
Democrat Liz Whitmer Gereghty ends run for NY’s 17th Congressional District, endorses Mondaire Jones
Bachelor Nation's Tyler Cameron Earns a Rose for Gift Giving With These Holiday Picks
Video of rich kid beating parking guard outrages Mexico, already plagued by class divisions
Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
Aaron Rodgers cleared for return to practice, opening window for possible Jets comeback
Top diplomats arrive in North Macedonia for security meeting as some boycott Russia’s participation
Kyle Richards' Sisters Kim and Kathy Gush Over Mauricio Umansky Amid Their Separation