Hydeia Broadbent started speaking publicly about her experiences as someone with HIV/AIDS when she was a young child.
“I want people to know that we’re just normal people,” a 7-year-old Broadbent told Magic Johnson during a Nickelodeon news special that aired in March 1992, four months after the Lakers superstar announced he was retiring from basketball because he was HIV positive.
Broadbent never stopped speaking out about the virus and disease — and Johnson thanked her for her courage.
A leading activist in HIV/AIDS awareness, Broadbent, who was born with HIV, died Wednesday at age 39, her father said in a Facebook post.