Pamela Anderson recalls being told she had just 10 years to live after ‘death sentence’ diagnosis
Pamela Anderson recalls being told she had just 10 years to live after contracting hepatitis C.
Anderson, 59, was diagnosed with hepatitis C in the late 1990s before a cure for the virus had been found.
Hepatitis C is a virus spread through infected blood.
Most people who have it have no symptoms, but if left untreated it can cause serious liver problems and can be fatal.
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Anderson spoke about the moment she discovered she had hepatitis C, saying the doctor called it ‘a death sentence’.
Speaking at the amfAR Venezia Gala 2026 where Anderson received the Award of Courage, she said: “Back in the late 90s when I was diagnosed with hepatitis C there was no cure.
“It was a death sentence. That’s what my doctor told me, that I probably had around 10 years to live. I’m sure that coloured and corrupted my decisions.
“It was not fear of death, but fear of what might happen to my young children. It turned my life inside out.”
However, after living with hepatitis C for more than a decade, Anderson learned that a new treatment had been developed that could completely cure the illness.
“Ten blurry years later, there was a cure. I was lucky, I was offered it in its early stages and it took everything I had in my bank to pay for it [because] it wasn’t covered by insurance yet and I felt tremendous guilt that others weren’t granted the same access.
“I am grateful to say now that I am hep C free but my experience of shame and guilt was also an unconscious journey. It stays with me. It haunts me.”
Anderson said she spent years campaigning to raise awareness, encouraging people to get tested and to try and combat the stigma surrounding hepatitis C but added: “My words did not match my feelings, I was angry and scared. I went into sabotage mode.”
She said she felt as though the words ‘damaged goods’ were ‘carved’ into her forehead and that she presented herself as such.
The former Baywatch star said that she didn’t think she’d ever really ‘recovered’ from the news but said that her ‘truth comes through [her] work’.
Anderson previously shared the news that she was cured back in November 2015 after taking the new medication for just 12 weeks.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live just weeks earlier in September, she said: "I am taking medicine right now, they have come up with a cure.
"I am almost half way through and by November 1 I should be cured - a 98 per cent chance. I'm very fortunate that I've had hep C for about 16 years.
"Sixteen years ago that was [presented to me] as a death sentence. I think it really worked on my self-esteem.
“Even though I may have looked confident on the outside, I think it really was a dark cloud that lingered over me."
According to the NHS, these days treatment can cure hepatitis C infections in ‘most people’.
It’s treated with antiviral medication that is taken every day for between eight and 12 weeks.
Topics: Celebrity News, Pamela Anderson, Health, US News
Claire Reid