The Howard Stern Show’s ‘Baba Booey’ seems to have dealt with a number of family issues throughout the years. Gary Dell Abate’s life has been full of catastrophes, whether it’s his son’s rehab situation or a personal tragedy that prompted him to get more active in AIDS awareness and educational initiatives.
The Rehab Situation of Gary Dell Abate’s Younger Son
Gary’s younger son Lucas was in treatment, according to a Reddit thread. This debate began when a user inquired as to why Lucas was in his second year of high school at the age of 22. While some people said that he was just taking time off from school, others felt that he went to treatment due to a drug issue. Despite this, no one from the family has formally addressed the reality of the claim.
He has a second son.
Gary has two additional family members besides Lucas. Since 1992, the radio producer has been married to Mary Caracciolo, now Mary Dell Abate. She gives a lot of her time to numerous organizations and schools as a volunteer. She is also a graphic artist and offers painting workshops to Greenwich elementary school students. The couple has two children. Lucas is a DJ by trade, while Jackson, the oldest son, works at Netflix. He is shown with his family.
Gary Dell Abate’s Participation in AIDS Awareness Campaigns
Aside from the rehab reports, another tragedy in ‘Baba Booey’s personal life has been the death of a family member. Gary’s brother, Steven, was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1990. He stated that when he initially learned of his brother’s illness, he didn’t know anything about AIDS. He used to believe that the ailment could be passed on by shaking hands with an infected individual, but following the diagnosis, he discovered that this was not the case.
Gary made it a point to try to rescue his brother in whatever way he could when he was diagnosed. For that, he contacted everyone he knew in an attempt to find a means to assist his brother, all the while hoping that one of those individuals might tell him anything he didn’t already know. He soon discovered, however, that this was not the case. He also conceded that there wasn’t much anybody could do at the moment, which the family had to accept. When Steven grew too ill, he was transferred to a hospital for better treatment. There, they were confronted with another obstacle that made it much more difficult to bear: prejudice toward AIDS.
He Joins AIDS Awareness Group Due To Prejudice
This prejudice was so strong that the nurses refused to care for Steven and were upset that he had been hospitalized in the first place. As a result, he had to be transferred to a floor dedicated just to AIDS patients. However, that too was challenging because soon enough, it started taking a toll on the entire family.
Being an incurable condition and due to excessive complications resulting from AIDS, they lost Steven in January 1991. By then, the family had learned how inconsiderate and intolerant the world was of the disease. In order to change that, Gary decided to join forces with LIFEbeat – The Music Industry Fights AIDS in an attempt to educate people about it, and he has been a part of it ever since. LIFEbeat is an AIDS awareness group that performs at concerts and sponsors public service announcements on MTV to educate another generation about AIDS and burst age-old myths about it.
