Who were Hydeia Broadbent's parents? Personal life of groundbreaking HIV/AIDS activist explored as she dies aged 39

Prominent HIV and AIDS activist Hydeia Broadbent passed away on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, at the age of 39. Essence reported that she succumbed to natural causes in her sleep.

According to PEOPLE, the news of her death was announced by her adoptive father Loren Broadbent via Facebook. Sharing a picture of Hydeia, he wrote in the caption:

“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. Despite facing numerous challenges throughout her life, Hydeia remained determined to spread hope and positivity through education around HIV/AIDS.”

So far, the identities of her birth parents remain unknown. However, she was adopted by Loren and Patricia Broadbent when she was three years old in 1987.

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Everything you need to know about Hydeia Broadbent’s personal life

According to PEOPLE, Hydeia Broadbent was born in 1984 but was soon abandoned by her birth mother (who was an IV drug user addicted to heroin, as per NPR) at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.

Later, when she was six weeks old, she was taken as a foster child by Loren and Patricia Broadbent, who eventually adopted her when she was 3. Around the same time, Hydeia’s adoptive parents learned that she was born HIV positive with an advancement to AIDS, and may not live beyond the age of 5.

However, Hydeia Broadbent survived but later contracted AIDS at the age of 5 and led a challenging life ever since, often having blood infections, pneumonia, respiratory problems, chicken pox, and fungal infections in her brain.

Initially called “Baby Girl Kellogg,” she was named Hydeia by one of her siblings Briana (after one of the characters from the TV series Sesame Street), who was also adopted as an infant by the Broadbent couple. They had three other adoptive children and were often the foster family for other ill and abandoned babies, as per encyclopedia.com.

While Loren Broadbent was a glass contractor, Patricia Broadbent was a social worker and a printing plant supervisor. Hydeia’s adoptive mother was also the unit director for the Boys Club of America and the executive director of Camp Fire Girls.

Patricia Broadbent went to great lengths to offer a good life to Hydeia and became part of several HIV/AIDS support groups and nonprofits. She even attended the 1989 National Pediatric AIDS Conference in Los Angeles following which she enrolled Hydeia in a clinical drug trial run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for children living with HIV/AIDs.

Since the age of 6, Hydeia Broadbent became an HIV/AIDS child activist and continued doing the same until her death. She appeared on the 1992 Nickelodeon special with basketball star Magic Johnson (who was also HIV positive) and talked about living with the congenital disease. Later, in 2014, Hydeia Broadbent became a lifelong member activist of the Magic Johnson Foundation.

She even became one of the first Black children to appear on posters for HIV/AIDS on national television at the age of 12 and appeared on shows like Oprah, 20/20, The Maury Povich Show, and Good Morning America.

Hydeia Broadbent attended the 1996 Republican National Convention at the age of 12 where she recited a poem on the journey of HIV/AIDS people and later said:

“I am the future, and I have AIDS. I can do anything I put my mind to. I am the next doctor. I am the next lawyer. I am the next Maya Angelou. I might even be the first woman president… You can’t crush my dream. I am the future, and I have AIDS.”

Hydeia Broadbent spent her entire life raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and destigmatizing the issues surrounding them. According to PEOPLE, she spent her life teaching those living with HIV/AIDS about abstinence, safe s*x practices, prevention, and more and told on her website that her mission was “simply to inform & create dialogue around HIV/AIDS in our homes, communities, educational institutions & churches,” among other places.

With encouragement from her adoptive parents, Hydeia Broadbent even published a book in 2002 called You Get Past The Tears: A Memoir of Love and Survival, as reported by Essence.

NPR reported that she was part of various HIV/AIDS-related organizations throughout her life including the Hydeia L. Broadbent Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and led its ‘Let’s Stop HIV Together’ campaign from the front.