Pamela Anderson said her doctor told her she had 10 years to live when she was diagnosed in the late 1990s with hepatitis C.
“It was a death sentence,” said Anderson.
But on Sunday, the actor whose breakout role on “Baywatch” turned her into an international star, was honored with amfAR’s Award of Courage at a gala in Venice, where she opened up about the diagnosis that upended her life. amfAR is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending HIV/AIDS; hepatitis C is frequently a co-infection with AIDS.
At the time of her diagnosis, there was no cure for hepatitis C, which is a viral infection that causes liver inflammation and potential long-term damage.
“I’m sure that colored and corrupted my decisions,” Anderson, 59, said. “It was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children. It turned my life inside out.”
When Anderson publicly revealed in 2002 that she was infected with the virus, she said she contracted hepatitis C after sharing a tattoo needle with her then-husband, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee.
“Tommy has the disease and never disclosed it to me during our marriage,” said Anderson, who at the time was in a custody battle with Lee over their two children.
Lee, however, has insisted repeatedly that he does not have hepatitis C.
Meanwhile, Anderson said in her speech on Sunday that she struggled with “shame and guilt.”
“It stays with me; it haunts me,” she said in her speech. “And just like the sexual abuse that I endured as a child, it felt like it was carved into my forehead: damaged goods. And I presented myself as such.”
Then, in 2011, a cure for the viral infection was found, and four years later Anderson announced she was “hep C free.”
“I was lucky,” Anderson said in her speech before amfAR. “I was offered it in its early stages, and it took everything I had in my bank to pay for it. It wasn’t covered by insurance yet, and I felt tremendous guilt that others weren’t granted the same access.”
But Anderson said she has “finally come to terms” with the diagnosis.
In recent years, Anderson’s acting career has been revived, with roles in films like “The Last Showgirl,” “The Naked Gun,” “Rosebush Pruning” and “Place to Be,” which premieres Wednesday at the Venice Film Festival.
“My truth has come through my work, finding ways to express myself through the arts. It gave me the ammunition I needed, a fertile life to use and play in,” Anderson said. “I’m not a victim. I’m a victor. I am strong and capable, more now than I could ever dream of. ... I’m not the damsel in distress, no matter how easy that role is to play.”
